I Miss You
by withgirl
Summary: When Emma gets adoption dissolution papers from Regina, Henry is thrilled, but how long can he go without his mom? Set in season two after they brought Neal to Storybrooke. Potential T/W for torture but it's very mild [Regina x Emma pairing]
1. Chapter 1

"I hate you," Henry shouted "just leave me alone you're not my real mom."

"I know," Regina whispered, as tear came down her face, Henry looked up in shock as she walked away, he had fully expected her to have been planning something. It had been a couple weeks since he had last talked to her, he was just so happy that he had Neal in his life now, and he had started to forgive Emma for lying to him, honestly he had kind of forgotten about Regina.

He was about to call out to her, when his phone started to ring, looking down he saw that it was Neal, "hello," he answered.

"Hey kid, I was wondering whether you want to go out to dinner with me, Emma said she's working late."

"Sure, I'll meet you at the diner in a few minutes," Henry replied as he watched Regina turn the corner, shrugging it off he simply went to meet his father.

* * *

Emma sighed as she grabbed the last form that needed to be filled out, she was sure that there was more paper work than criminals in Storybrooke.

Purple smoke bellowed around her file tray and another document appeared, "dammit Regina" she whispered, she really hoped she could just go home in the next twenty minutes.

But that thought was forgotten as soon as she read the title of the newest document: 'adoption dissolution,' it didn't take long for Emma to realise that this was for Henry, and it clearly said that Regina was giving Emma and Neal their parental rights back. She nearly chocked when she read the final clause that basically said that Regina didn't want be part of Henry's life in any way.

She saw that Regina had already signed it, and it had been notarised without her signature, which didn't surprise Emma in the slightest, she was sure that Mr Gold was not above fraud. At the bottom there was a post-it note that read 'sign here Miss Swan'.

Though she had made no move to force Henry to spend time with his mum, Emma had a feeling that Henry would eventually realise that he missed her. As she read the document three more time looking for loop holes, she sighed in frustration, grabbed her coat and broke a few highway codes on her way to Milfin street.

* * *

Pounding on her door Emma shouted for the fifth time, "Regina, open up, I really need to talk to you," and for the fifth time she had no reply.

Against her better judgement, she decided just to pick the lock and deal with the consequences later. By the time she had walked around the house a few times she had come to the conclusion that Regina wasn't there, and when she thought about it she realised that she hadn't even seen her Mercedes in the driveway.

Emma found it very hard to believe that Regina would just leave Henry after all she had done to try and get redemption, but this hope was dashed when she went into Regina's bedroom to see that her closet was empty. It looked as though Regina had taken all of her clothes, but none of the sentimental items in the house, like the insane number of pictures that she had of Henry. Tentatively Emma went into Henry's room to check a theory only to find that it was completely empty, as she wondered if she had gone into the wrong room, her phone rang.

"What's up Henry" she asked.

"Why does my room look exactly like my old room?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, worry flaring up in her mind.

"I mean that I came home after dinner, and my bedroom looks exactly like my room at the mansion, why would Regina do this," Emma's jaw clenched when he called his mom 'Regina' but she tried to move past it.

"Just stay put, okay? I think there's something that I need to tell you."

* * *

"This is awesome," Henry almost yelled as he read over the document that Emma had been afraid to show him.

"Henry, I not sure that..."

"Now we can be a real family without her trying to ruin it," he bounced excitedly, he quickly grabbed a pen giving it to Emma and looking at her expectantly. Emma sighed, she signed knowing it would make no difference considering how resourceful Mr Gold could be.

"She raised you for ten years, you can't pretend that she doesn't exist, and doesn't it worry you that we don't even know where she is."

Henry shook his head, though Emma could see that tears were about to fall.

* * *

"Wake up, your majesty," Regina heard a taunting voice, as she prised her eyes open she saw Greg and Tamara looking at her with amusement in their eyes.

"Where am I?" she croaked, the last thing she remembered was trying to leave Storybrooke, so that Henry could have his happy ending.

"That's not important, the important thing is that you are here, and unless you tell me what you did to my dad, you're going to feel more pain than you have ever felt," Greg growled.

"That may be a more difficult feat than you would imagine," Regina chuckled, for the first time she seemed to notice that she was strapped down, and she just registered the feeling of cold metal beneath her. Looking around she noticed a machine with wires that trailed over to her, and she realised that there were two pieces of plastic attached to her temples. "You plan to torture me? Do you have any idea how much I have endured?" she laughed.

"You've never endured any torture that this world has to offer," Tamara laughed as she pressed the button on the machine. Suddenly Regina felt as if a million joules of electricity were coursing through her body, and she would be lying if she said that Tamara didn't have a point.

As her back arched and she screamed, she realised that even if someone was looking for her they probably wouldn't be looking in Storybrooke, she's probably going to die alone being tortured.

* * *

 **A/N Please let me know if I should keep this as a one-shot or continue :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two

The next few days were like torture for Emma, the more time she spent with Henry and Neal as a 'family' made her feel as if someone was missing. It was safe to say that Neal was as thrilled with the news as Henry had been, and Emma found it deeply unsettling that no one had so much as said the queen's name.

"What's wrong?" Charming asked, as he placed a bear claw and a cup of coffee on Emma's desk.

"Thanks," she smiled, "nothing's wrong, I'm fine."

"Thinking about Regina?" he asked.

"I-what?" Emma gasped.

"As much as the prospect worries your mother, we can tell how you feel about her," Charming smirked.

"Which is?" Emma asked, desperately hoping that he didn't know as much as he believed he did.

"You love her," he said simply, "and I think you two would make a perfect couple, just don't tell Snow I said that," he chuckled.

Emma felt happiness build within her, until it came crashing down, "she's not in Storybrooke," she whispered sadly.

"Then find her," he replied.

"You know she wouldn't appreciate the, 'I will always find you' crap," Emma laughed.

"Then don't say those words, just go and find her, I can tell that Henry misses her."

"Then he's hiding very well from me," Emma scoffed.

"Emma, Regina hurt him before the curse, but he can't avoid the fact that he loves her. Once he realises that she left to make him happy, I don't know if he will be able to live with that guilt," Charming replied.

"Who said that's why she left?" Emma asked.

"How can someone, who can always tell if someone is telling the truth, find it so difficult to find the most obvious truth of all," Charming laughed, as he left he called, "you should take the sheriff cruiser and go and find her."

* * *

Emma did exactly what her father had suggested, after going to the apartment to pack an overnight bag, she jumped in the cruiser and drove as fast as she could to the town line.

But before she crossed something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Screeching to a stop just shy of the line she jumped out the car and ran towards what she saw.

"Oh my God!" Emma shouted as she ran towards the totalled Mercedes.

It looked as if it had veered off the road just as Regina was about to leave, it had crashed against a tree, and was now turned over.

Emma stumbled towards it, not caring about the broken glass she dropped to her knees and looked inside, relief flooded her s she saw that the driver's seat was empty, and then dread filled her as she realised that Regina must be injured somewhere, alone.

She grabbed her phone and called her father, "David you need to get to the town line now," she almost shouted, hanging up before he had time to form a reply.

She began searching for any evidence of where the queen could be.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

As the tenth round of electricity began to tear her body apart, Regina screamed, "your father is dead!"

"W-what?"Greg asked, angrily.

A tear made its way down Regina's cheek as she admitted something that she regretted deeply, "I killed him for not doing what I wanted him to do, and I am so sorry."

At that moment Tamara walked in holding a small jar of blue liquid, to find Greg looking utterly devastated.

"I got the potion," she announced, giving him a curious look.

"She confessed to killing him," he answered, looking as if he were in a daze.

"I'm so sorry," she replied softly, moving over she put her arm around his shoulder, "what do you want to do to her?" she whispered.

Grabbing the potion, he removed the top, and forced it down the queen's throat as Tamara looked on in shock.

"I thought that was just a threat."

Greg chuckled darkly as he watched Regina's face twist into one of pure confusion, "for her it's a fate worse than death."

* * *

After hours of searching the area around the Mercedes Emma came to the conclusion that someone had taken Regina. She found evidence of a blood trail, but it seemed as if whoever had taken her had done so in a car. She had tried to follow the tyre tracks, only to find that they lead to Main Street, kicking the Tarmac in frustration, she felt her Father's hand on her shoulder.

"We will find her, Emma," he said softly.

"What if we don't? Do you really think that Henry could deal with that? How am I supposed to tell him any of this?" Emma replied harshly, as she tried to hold back tears.

"He needs to know, he can't keep hating her. If he does it will only make the whole thing ten times worse," Charming continued, still trying to sound as soft as possible.

Emma simply nodded as she pulled out her phone.

"What's up ma?" she heard Henry's voice flow through the device.

"Where are you, Henry?" she asked solemnly.

"I'm at the diner with Neal, why?" Emma felt guilt build up as she heard how worried he sounded.

"Just stay right there, I'll be there in a minute," she answered, and after she heard a small "okay" she hung up and turned to her father.

Before could say a word, her father held up his hand, "go, I'll carry on looking for evidence."

* * *

Emma entered the diner to find Neal and Henry in their usual booth, and Emma felt anxiety build within her.

She walked over slowly, thinking of ways that she could tell her son that the mother, that he apparently hated, was missing.

But as she sat down and looked at his hopeful face, her mind went blank and she decided that she should just rip of the Band-Aid, "Henry, something happened."

The guilt returned full force as she noticed how worried you look, "what happened?" he asked in a small voice, and Emma suddenly remembered that he was only 11 years old.

"Your mom..." she started only to be interrupted.

"What did Regina do now?" he asked angrily.

Emma clenched her hands into fists, until she noticed Neal put a hand on Henry's shoulder, "don't call her Regina, kid," he whispered, as he gave Emma a small smile of encouragement.

Emma nodded at him and continued, "well I tried to find her..."

"Why?"

"Will you just listen!" Emma shouted, drawing the attention of the others around them, putting up her hands apologetically, she leaned in and began to whisper. "I tried to find her and when I got to town line I found her car, crashed against a tree."

She watched as Henry's petulant expression changed into one of complete shock, "is she okay?" he almost mumbled.

"She wasn't in the car, I think someone may have taken her."

"Who?"

"Greg and Tamara," she whispered, completely forgetting that Neal was still there.

"Really? You're still on this?" Neal scoffed.

"Trust me Neal, everyone else in the town would have just let her leave; if they were going to do something to her they would have done it already. Could you just go along with it, and if I'm proven wrong I will personally apologise to both of them," she pleaded.

Neal nodded, "fine, if it's the only theory you have."

Emma turned her attention back to Henry, who seemed to be working through the full spectrum of emotions, "what if it's a trick?"

Emma let out a sigh, "what kind of trick, kid? She was leaving Storybrooke, what would be the benefit?"

Henry nodded, still not looking fully convinced. Emma was about to continue when her phone rang, and she picked up instantly seeing the name 'David' on the caller ID.

"What did you find?" she asked, hopefully.

"You're not going to believe this. I just got a phone call from Whale; apparently someone left her outside the hospital. He said that she's in surgery and it's too early to know the full extent of her injuries."

"O-okay, thanks" Emma replied in shock, ending the phone call she looked straight at Henry. "I'm going to the hospital, apparently someone left her outside," she turned her attention to Neal.

"And you think it was Tamara?" he asked doubtfully.

"Trust me Neal, at the moment I really don't care," Emma replied, before she basically ran out of the diner.

* * *

Emma waited for two hours, before Mary Margaret walked in, with Henry trailing behind her.

As much as Emma had tried not to see her as her mother, mainly because it freaked her out, she ran straight towards her and hugged her without warning.

"It's going to be okay," she cooed, drawing circles on her back, as Henry sat on one of her chairs and pulled out his DS.

David walked around the corner, carrying two coffees, he placed them both on a nearby table, and went to sit next to Henry. He knew for a fact that Henry missed his mom, and if she didn't pull through he didn't want Henry to have to carry that guilt around, although he couldn't say that he didn't deserve the guilt. All he could hope was that he got time to make it right with her.

Emma pulled her mother around the corner, as she gave her a questioning look.

"I really need to ask you something," as Mary Margret nodded Emma continued, "David said that you noticed something about me and Regina and he said that you would freak..."

Snow held up her hand and chuckled, "I was a bit freaked out when I first saw you staring at her, but I think it's amazing!"

Emma looked like a fish out of water, "why didn't you mention her for the past three days?"

"Well I would have if I thought for a second that she was still in Storybrooke, but David decided not to force you to look for her, obviously he didn't listen to his own advice. I haven't actually told of my revelation, he just accepted instantly."

"I thought you hated her," Snow chuckled.

"I never hated her, I'm not even sure if she hated me. But it makes complete sense that the saviour would save the Evil Queen with love."

"Whoa, who said anything about love?"

"David said you admitted it."

"No he put words into my mouth," Emma defended.

"Stop fighting it," Snow laughed.

Before Emma could come up with another defence, David rounded the corner, "Whale said that Regina should be waking up soon, he said that the surgery went fine. But she had three broken ribs, a bit of internal bleeding, and he saw signs of electrical damage. His theory is that someone forced her to crash her car, and then must have tortured her with high voltages of electricity."

"She was tortured?" Emma asked meekly, wishing that she had gone to find her as soon as she had noticed that she had left.

"Come on, sweetheart, let's go and see her," Snow said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder she led Emma towards Regina's room.

* * *

Henry had tried to refuse to go and see her, but as soon as he was forced into the room, seeing her with all the wires and the beeping of machines, must have caused him finally give up on pretending.

"Mom!" he almost shouted, as he ran towards, "I'm sorry, I said I hate you," suddenly he turned to Emma, "what if that's the last thing she heard he say to her?"

Relief flooded through Emma as Henry finally noticed how wrong he had been, "she will be fine," as she hugged him, she hoped that she was right.

Looking over his shoulder, she noticed Regina's eyes as they had began to flit open.

"Regina," she smiled when her eyes were finally fully opened.

Regina gave her a questioning look, "who are you?"

 **A/N I've changed the first chapter so that the Mercedes wasn't in the driveway, sorry completely forgot about that :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four

"W-what?" Emma asked as she released Henry from the hug.

Henry turned around looking at his mom expectantly, only to find no recognition.

"Am I supposed to know who either of you are?" she asked harshly, as she tried to sit up, only to be stopped by pain ripping through her chest.

"I'm your son," Emma's heart broke as she watched Henry's chin wobble.

"I don't have any children, is this some kind of trick?" Regina narrowed her eyes.

"You know those dissolution papers don't mean that he isn't your son, Regina!" Emma said angrily, as she watched tears move down Henry's checks.

"What are you talking about? And don't you think calling me 'Regina' is a bit presumptuous, I am a queen after all," Regina replied, every bit the Evil Queen.

"B-but you're not a queen here," Henry said, meekly.

"And where is here?"

"Storybrooke," as no familiarity crossed Regina's face Emma asked "what's the last thing you remember?"

Against her better judgement Regina decided to humour them, for some reason she felt sorry for making the boy cry, "I just left Snow White's wedding. What is Storybrooke?"

"It's a place, the cursed town you created," Emma replied with pleading eyes.

"If you know that, it's not very cursed now is it? And who are you?"

"Er..." before Emma could reply she heard the door opening, hoping it wasn't who she thought it was.

"Emma, is she okay?" came Snow White's voice as she strode as the room.

Biting her lip in frustration, Emma tried to gauge Regina's reaction; her dumbfounded expression would have been comical if it had not been for the situation.

As Snow began to sense that something was wrong, she noticed Henry's tear stained face, "am I missing something?"

"Regina may have a little memory loss, could you get Whale?" Snow looked at her former-stepmother, quickly nodded and almost ran out the room. At the same time Charming was about to enter holding flowers, only to be pushed out of the room by his wife.

"Tell me what's going on now!" Regina demanded.

"It's a really long story," Emma replied weakly, at Regina's stare she took a deep breath and told her almost everything, and Henry noticed that she hadn't mentioned once how he had treated his mother.

A moment after she had finished, Whale entered the room, and the angry stare that Regina gave him didn't go unnoticed. For the first time Emma realised that she didn't really know Regina's connection to everyone in this town, she silently vowed to ask if she ever got memory back.

Walking over to her, looking very tentative he asked, "what do you remember, Madam May...err I mean Your Majesty?"

At Regina's questioning glare Emma jumped in, "she remembers about a year before she cast the curse."

Whale nodded, taking out his little flash light, he quickly shone them into her eyes, which only made her scowl deepen, "she doesn't have any signs of neurological damage, I'll have to do an MRI to make sure."

Emma nodded and Regina continued to look thoroughly confused.

"Don't worry Your Majesty, you'll get used to this realm soon, most people say it's better than the Enchanted Forest," he tried a smile, before quickly pointing to the door.

Emma and Henry followed him outside.

"What didn't you say?" Emma asked.

"I really won't know anything until after the MRI, but if she truly is the Evil Queen again you may need to consider preventive measures," he suggested.

"I am not locking her up, if that is what you are suggesting! And besides how much damage can she do with broken ribs?" Emma answered.

"I'm sorry sheriff, but you may need to consider it for the safety of your mother, I cannot guarantee that she will ever get her memory back," he defended.

As Emma heard a weak sniffle come from Henry, she replied, "just do your tests Whale."

"I would suggest you go home, I'll call you when I have the results," Emma nodded, though Henry very reluctantly left the hospital.

* * *

For the next few hours Henry moped, unwilling to talk to anyone as he stared at the phone.

"You know a watched phone never rings," Snow laughed, as she handed her grandson a hot cocoa.

"What if she never remembers me?" he asked.

As softy as she could she addressed the elephant in the room, "you didn't seem to care when you thought she just left."

"I thought she would come back," he mumbled.

"But the adoption dissolution papers?" Snow asked.

"I didn't think they were real, I thought maybe she was just trying to make me realise that I missed her," Snow pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the forehead.

"If I know anything about Regina, it's that she'll always be there for you if you need her, trust me Henry she'll remember."

Suddenly the phone rang, and Emma bolted across the room to answer it, earning a scolding look from Henry that looked far too much like Regina.

"Hello," Emma answered.

"We ran every test we could, there is no signs of damage in her brain, I'm sorry sheriff but I don't know what caused this or even if it will go away," Whale replied solemnly.

"What do you suggest?" Emma asked, feeling guilt as she looked at Henry's hopeful face.

"You need to reintroduce her to Storybrooke, and try and remind her who Mayor Mills is, I think you and I both know we can't have the true Evil Queen in this town. I would suggest taking her back to her home and staying with her until her ribs have healed, I would also hold off on telling her who your parents are."

Emma felt relief as she realised that she had not actually mentioned that when she told Regina the 'whole story'.

"When can she go home?"

"I would be prepared to discharge her in the morning, if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah that's fine, are you sure there's nothing else you could test for?" Emma asked desperately.

"I believe that you may need to speak to Mr Gold, we did find an unidentifiable substance when we did tests, I believe it could be magical."

Emma internally groaned, _great more magical crap_ she thought.

"Thank you Whale, I'll see you tomorrow."

Hanging up Emma saw two very expectant faces.

"He thinks it's magical, apparently there's nothing physically wrong with her expect for her ribs," at Henry's sad expression, "don't worry kid I've got this all planned out. We'll go and discharge her tomorrow, you can have the day off school while we help her settle into the mansion, and then I'll go and convince Mr Gold to tell me anything he knows." _And I'll beat the shit out of Greg and Tamara,_ she omitted from her plan.

Henry nodded, still looking thoroughly disappointed, and Emma had a feeling that it was in himself.

Ruffling his hair, she said, "finish your cocoa and go to bed, okay? We've got a lot to do tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five

Regina spent the night feeling very confused, and very angry.

No one would explain to her what was happening, at least not in a way that she could understand.

Frankenstein-or Whale- kept saying things about blood tests, MRI's and painkillers. He was clearly terrified of the queen, as were most of the nurses who would come into her room.

Then there was this Emma, and her apparent son. _Did I find my happy ending_ she wondered. But then why was the boy crying and apologising when she woke up?

She had said something about 'adoption dissolution', _is he not actually my son?_

As much as she tried to remember anything about Storybrooke, she just kept drawing a blank. And if the curse is so clearly broken, why was everyone still here?

But as much as she wanted to leave this 'hospital' every time she sat up she could feel pain shooting through her chest, and when she tried to call upon her magic she could feel that it wasn't there. _Is this a land without magic?_ Despite this thought she could swear that she had felt magic rippling from Emma, which only served to further the question of who the woman is.

One top of all of this, there was Snow White's compassion. Were they close now? Had they somehow worked out their differences? And what is her and Charmings connection to Emma and her 'son'?

Eventually she decided that none of these questions were helping, and she could feel the strange tablet that they had given her starting to make her drowsy, so she fell asleep.

* * *

"Gold," Emma called as she entered the pawn shop, having left before Henry even woke up.

"How can I help you sheriff?" he grinned, and Emma began to see why Regina had nicknamed him imp.

"I'm here about Regina," Emma answered as she strode up to the counter.

"Oh yes, what a terrible fate to befall her majesty."

"How could you possibly know what happened?" Emma growled.

His smile grew wider, which made Emma want to punch him, "I know everything, Miss Swan."

"Why do I feel like you're confessing?"

"I can assure you, I was with Belle all day and night yesterday. Ask her if you like."

"So you wasn't at the pawn shop at all?" as he shook his head, Emma came up with a theory, "were any of your potions stolen?"

Reaching beneath the counter he pulled out a large tray, with an assortment of coloured liquids.

As he inspected them he said, "she may just be pretending you know."

"Are any missing?" Emma asked impatiently.

Nodding his smile seemed to lessen, "I'm missing a memory potion."

"Is there an antidote?" Emma asked hopefully.

"It's more of a curse, and we both know the number one way to break those."

"So I need to get Henry to kiss her?" Emma smiled.

"True love has to be reciprocated, which cannot be done by someone with no memories of the other person. I hope you will be investing some your time to finding who stole from me," he said, and Emma couldn't help but smirk at how much this bothered him.

Looking around she saw a security camera, pointing at it she said, "send the footage to David, I need to focus on getting Regina back, which you have not been very helpful with."

"Find her true love," he replied as he began to walk over to the security camera, Emma simply rolled her eyes as she left without another word.

* * *

Having had gone back to pick Henry up and fill him in on what she had found out, she and he now stood outside the hospital room.

"Why do you look so nervous?" Henry asked.

"You don't look any better," Emma retorted.

Giving a strained smile, Henry replied, "I know I always called her the Evil Queen, but I guess I've never actually met the real one."

"You can stay at the apartment until she gets her memory back if you want," Emma suggested, as she put her arm around his shoulder.

"I can't leave her again," he said, as he pushed the door open.

Smiling slightly at his reply, Emma followed him into the room, to see a very grumpy Regina.

"Good morning Reg...or Your Majesty," Emma said brightly.

"Miss Swan," she replied, which sent a shiver up her spine.

"We're here to take you home, we'll stay with you until your ribs heal," Emma said as she sat in the plastic chair by the bed.

"And why would you do that?" the queen asked harshly.

Emma tilted her head and replied, "because we want to."

Sighing Regina decided that she had no other options, "very well but you must answer me a few questions." Emma nodded eagerly and she asked, "why is my magic not working?"

Frowning Emma shrugged, "I really don't know much about magic, I can ask Gold if you like."

"Gold?"

"Oh right... er... Rumplestiltskin," Emma smiled sheepishly.

"That imp is here," Regina laughed.

"Yeah, I should probably tell you that everyone had two names now."

"I figured that out Miss Swan."

Nodding Emma asked, "so what are the other questions?"

Pointing at Henry she asked, "what is his name?"

As Emma was about to answer Henry said, "Henry Daniel Mills."

Regina's eyes seemed to begin to glisten with tears, as much as she felt as if this was a trick, she wasn't sure that any of her enemies other than Snow knew Daniel's name.

She suddenly seemed to forget the other questions and announced instead, "take me home."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six

As difficult as it was, Emma had managed to coax Regina into a wheelchair, only to face her next major challenge.

"What is that?" Regina sneered, as Emma wheeled her towards her bug.

"It's a car," Emma replied.

Regina narrowed her eyes in distrust and Henry interjected, "it's like a carriage with a motor and no horses. It's a lot faster."

Nodding thankfully at her son, Emma looked at for her reaction.

"Frankenstein said that I was in a 'car crash'" Regina continued to look at it distrustfully.

Emma cringed, "er...we could walk to your house if you like."

Looking around, Regina seemed to notice just how many cars there were, "are you suggesting that I am afraid?"

Mentally face palming herself, Emma sighed, "of course not, I just want you to be as comfortable as possible. "

"Fine, but do hurry up," Regina replied as she gestured for Emma to open the car door.

Throughout the entire car ride, Emma had to try and not laugh at how tense Regina looked, she realised just how many things she would have to explain to the queen, how was she going to take TV?

* * *

As soon as Emma had managed to help Regina out of the car and back into her wheelchair, she explained, "this is where you live."

Looking at the mansion Regina commented, "it looks awfully small."

Emma bit her lip as she thought about the small places she had lived in, "standards are lower in this world. It's the biggest house in Storybrooke."

Nodding Regina replied, "I suppose it will do."

"I set up the sofa," Henry called from the door way, Emma smiled, glad she had sent him to pull out the sofa bed.

Wheeling the queen in, she noticed as she narrowed her eyes at every framed picture and decoration.

 _I have a lot to explain,_ Emma thought, until they eventually got to the living room.

Emma smiled openly as she noticed that Henry had made Regina's new bed as comfortable as possible, probably placing three layers of blankets on it just to make the mattress seem thicker.

Knowing how happy the mayor would have been to see this, Emma hoped Henry would know that the queen would be different.

"Am I supposed to sleep on that?" she questioned.

"You're actual bed's upstairs, but Whale said that you shouldn't try and move much for a few weeks," Emma offered as she wheeled the queen as close as possible.

Regina simply sighed, and Emma felt a pang of sympathy, realising that everything Regina saw as strange was probably inciting the feelings Emma had in the Enchanted Forest not too long ago.

"Trust me you'll get used to it all soon, you can ask us anything," Henry said, and Emma noticed how unfazed he seemed by Regina's comment about the bed he had made.

Just as she settled into the bed she pointed at the TV, "what's that?"

Emma simply smiled, "you take this one Henry, I'll go get us some dinner."

Emma chuckled as she walked away hearing Henry's, "errrr..."

* * *

About half an hour later Emma returned with Granny's take out bags in hand, and she felt shock as she heard Henry's laugh.

Walking quickly to the living room she saw that he had put Friends on the TV.

"I still don't understand," Regina shook her head.

Smiling Henry pointed at Monica, "her name isn't actually Monica. She's just an actress who pretends to be someone else for others entertainment, you had plays in the Enchanted Forest, right?" Regina nodded, her face screwed up adorably in confusion, "so they write each episode of a show, record it, and then they use the TV's to show people around the world what the actors performed, this way you don't have to leave to house to watch a play."

"Who are 'they'?" Regina asked.

Henry furrowed his brow in concentration.

"Broadcasting companies," Emma answered, as she made her presence known.

Shaking her head, while still staring at the TV, Regina asked "so these are not real people?"

"No, there just actors or ermmm...thespians," Henry suggested.

Regina nodded, "I suppose it does seem more convenient, but who is powering it?"

"I think, your majesty, electricity is a conversation for after dinner," Emma laughed as she held up the bags, and Henry ran off to get cutlery.

* * *

Much to Henry's amusement, Regina spent the whole of dinner time staring at the TV, after Emma had convinced her to try the chicken salad, insisting that she had it all of the time.

Henry couldn't help but remember all of the times he had not been allowed to watch it during dinner time, no matter how much he had begged.

At the thought he was filled with sadness and regret, as he realised just how much of a good mother Regina had been.

As much as he now loved Emma, he couldn't deny the fact that she had given him away, and that Regina had loved him as her own for ten years. The more he thought about it the more he realised that Regina deserved his love far more than Emma did, but he couldn't pretend that he now had two more parents, it's not like he could ignore them for Regina. But he now knew that she deserved the mantle of 'mom' as much as, if not more than, Emma did, and he would spend every minute of every day with her until she remembered if he had to.

Just as Emma finished putting all of the dinner things away, she got a phone call, which earned a curious look from the now very comfortable looking queen.

A couple minutes later she hung up and turned to Henry, "David needs my help with the case, will you two be alright for a few hours."

Emma smiled as she saw a small half smile on the queen's face as she replied, "I suppose."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven

"So how is she?" Charming asked as Emma entered the station.

"Better than you would think," Emma laughed.

"So no murders?" he asked.

Emma just shook her head as she went over to her father's desk.

"So what did you want me to see?"

"Well, I went through all of the footage that Gold sent me, I couldn't find solid evidence, but I did notice that the time stamp has been altered," Charming pointed out.

"How does that help us?"

"It means that this isn't the actual footage, we need a way to see what actually happened."

"If they tampered with the camera how are we suppose that we do that?" Emma replied sceptically.

"Magic," he replied as if it were obvious.

Rolling her eyes Emma answered, "why is that the answer to everything?"

"Well it makes sense to fight magic with magic," Charming smirked seeing how uncomfortable the whole concept made Emma after everything she had been through. As she began to roll her eyes again he said, "just try it Emma."

"Give me the disk," Emma sighed.

Smiling he ejected it and handed it over to Emma.

Concentrating Emma held her hand over it, willing it to show what actually happened, only to feel nothing happen.

"This is pointless," Emma laughed bitterly.

"Try thinking about who you're doing it for, love can be a strong incentive," Charming suggested.

Emma raised her eyebrow, "as Prince Charming are you contractedly obligated to see love as the answer to everything?"

Chuckling he replied, "it usually is."

Trying again, she imagined Regina, and how afraid and confused she had looked when she first woke up. She imagined what this memory loss must be like for her, all the times that she had seen tears in her eyes and wished she could do something about it. Suddenly she felt magic come to the surface, as the disk began to glow.

Letting out a breath of surprise, Emma handed the disk to her father, who smiled while he put the disk into his computer.

Pressing play, the two sheriffs watched intently, as footage played double speed, "wait stop," Emma said, "zoom in."

As Charming did as she asked she broke into a smile, "I knew it!"

The screen clearly showed Tamara about to leave the pawn shop holding one of the potions.

* * *

"Tamara, you're under arrest," Emma said as she entered the diner, where said woman was having dinner with Neal.

"Emma," he sighed.

"There's nothing you can say, Neal. I have evidence."

"Really?" Tamara asked, and Emma couldn't help but notice how shocked she looked. "What for?" she hastily added.

"That you kidnapped and tortured the mayor," Emma replied.

"And what evidence do you have, sheriff?" Tamara asked, and Emma noted that she looked visibly worried.

"Video evidence of you stealing a potion from the pawn shop," Emma answered as she placed the hand cuffs around Tamara's wrists.

Emma smirked seeing the clear shock written across her face, wishing she could use that as evidence.

"And once I have the evidence I'll be arresting Greg."

"You can't arrest her Emma," Neal protested.

Choosing to ignore him Emma proceeded, "you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney, if you cannot afford an attorney one will be provided to you by the state. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"

Tamara nodded defiantly, while Emma took her to the station, leaving behind a very dumbfounded Neal.

* * *

"So are you not actually my son?" Regina broke the silence after a rather long conversation about electricity, that ended with the statement, 'just accept it as a thing.'

"Of course I am," Henry protested.

"Miss Swan mentioned 'adoption dissolution,'" Regina pointed out.

Hanging his head, Henry replied, "you did adopt me, Emma is my birth mother, I found her about a year ago."

Nodding Regina said, "I see, so you found your real mother."

"No!" Henry protested rather forcefully.

Giving him a questioning look, "have I struck a nerve?"

"I wasn't the best of sons."

"You seem like you're a rather wonderful one," Regina pointed out, though Henry noticed that she wouldn't look him in the eye.

"It took me a while to get over the whole adoption thing, but no matter what you are my real mom," he insisted, willing her to let down her walls.

"So what about the adoption dissolution?"

"I may have pushed you over the edge," Henry cringed.

"So I gave up?" Regina's eyes widened, and Henry could see a look of shame on her face.

"Trust me, you stayed long after most people would have given up, I just kind of pretended that you didn't exist," Henry admitted.

"I must have done something, I usually do," she frowned.

Henry felt a pang of guilt realising just how little the Evil Queen thought of herself, "it's not a big deal."

"It seems like it must have been."

"Well, I knew about the curse, but you pretended that I was crazy," Henry almost whispered.

"That sounds like something I would do," Regina sighed.

A moment of silence passed between them as a thought occurred to Henry, "I've answered your questions, why don't you answer some of mine."

"Within reason," she replied.

"Who is Daniel?" Henry asked.

"I never told you who you were named after," Regina tilted her head.

"Well you told me about your father, but all you ever said about Daniel was that he was a friend," Henry answered.

Considering this she replied, "no."

"Come on, mom I've always wanted to know who he is," Henry begged.

Her eyes widened at the word 'mom' and Henry mentally berated himself, he was about to drop the subject when she began her story, "he was a stable boy..."

* * *

"So why did you do it?" Emma asked, as she stared at Tamara from across the table.

"I've told you, I didn't do anything," Tamara retorted.

"Well then, give me an alibi and a reason to not believe the video and I'll let you leave."

"The video is fake," Tamara replied with all the confidence in the world.

"And what would make you think that?" Emma sneered.

"Just a gut feeling, I was taking a walk at that time," she answered.

"A walk where nobody saw you?" Emma asked.

"Just needed some time alone," she smiled.

At that moment, Charming entered holding a cup of coffee.

"Here," he said to Tamara, and then turned to Emma, "why don't you take a break?"

Nodding, Emma stood and left the interrogation room with her father.

"Did he go for it?" Emma asked.

"He was actually very helpful for once," Charming answered, as they watched Tamara drink the coffee his smile grew.

"So how long until it starts working?" Emma asked.

"Rumple said that as soon as she's drank enough of the serum she shouldn't be able to lie for the rest of the day."

"He does know that we're not going to let him do anything to them, right?" Emma asked.

"He said 'I wouldn't want to take that chance away from the saviour,'" Charming quoted.

As Tamara finished the coffee, Emma turned to her father, "let's go and get a confession."

After a short conversation Emma finally had Greg and Tamara in custody, _finally I can focus on Regina_ she thought.

* * *

 **A/N Please feel free to leave a review, would love to know what you guys think. Also why would you want this to be more focused on Swanqueen or Regalbeliever?**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

Emma entered the mansion with a huge smile on her face, thinking about how she got to punch Greg for assisting arrest.

Walking towards the living room, Henry intercepted her putting a finger to his mouth.

"She fell asleep," he whispered.

Emma nodded and pointed towards the kitchen.

"So how was it?" Emma asked as she began making herself a cup of coffee, handing Henry a glass of milk at the same time.

"She seems really closed off," Henry muttered.

"Did she talk at all?" Emma asked.

"Well once she got bored of TV and electricity she asked if I was really her son," he sighed.

Emma sighed, "what did you tell her?"

"The truth," Henry replied, Emma gave him a shocked look, "we're not meant to lie to her, I want her to remember."

"I want her to remember as much as you do, but I don't think we should overwhelm her."

"She took what I told her pretty well, she seemed more sad than angry," Henry frowned.

"Yeah, you're right," Emma sighed.

"Did you know that the book is missing a lot of stories," Henry asked after a pause.

"I kind of figured that it was missing some things, what makes you ask?" Emma tilted her head.

"I asked mom who Daniel is."

"And she told you?"

"I think she trusts me," Henry smiles.

Emma couldn't help but mirror Henry's smile, "so who is Daniel?"

"Her first fiancé," Henry's smile lessened.

Emma gaped, and nodded for Henry to continue.

"He was her stable boy on her family estate. She said that her mother wanted her to become a queen, so she wanted her to marry Snow's father. Snow was ten when she and her father came to their estate. Snow told her mother about her and Daniel, and she crushed his heart in front of mom because she was planning to run away," Henry recounted.

"Why would Snow do that?"

"I don't know she was ten, but that's why mom hates her," Henry replied.

Emma nodded, "there must be a lot about her that isn't in the book."

"Maybe if she feels like she can trust us, she'll tell us," Henry suggested.

"I think she's entitled to ask more questions than we are," Emma laughed. "By the way, I've got Greg and Tamara in custody."

"How did Neal take it?" Henry asked as he just finished his milk.

"I didn't really focus on his reaction," Emma frowned, and she noticed a small smirk on Henry's face. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm going to bed," he laughed as he hugged her.

"But there's nothing in your room," Emma called.

"I wanted to sleep in mom's room," he replied, and Emma noticed how embarrassed he looked.

Emma nodded in understanding.

Grabbing her coffee she decided to go and check on Regina and then find a guest room to stay in, but when she entered the living room she saw Regina was wide awake.

"Henry said you was asleep," Emma said.

"I woke up a few minutes ago," Regina replied.

Nodding Emma walked further into the room, "do you need anything?"

"I need answers," Regina answered frostily.

"Of course," Emma replied, sitting on the edge of the 'bed'.

"How did my curse break?"

Emma instantly thought of a lie, only to think of what Henry had said, "I broke it."

Narrowing her eyes Regina asked, "so you're some kind of saviour."

Emma couldn't hold back her smile, "exactly."

"So why would the one who defeated me, be so determined to help me?"

"Why would one in so much pain be so resistant to help?" Emma answered.

Regina narrowed her eyes further, and Emma noticed just how angry she appeared to be, "who exactly are you?"

"You already figured it out, I'm the saviour," Emma desperately hoped she would stop this questioning.

"Okay, so if the curse is broken, why did I not simply kill you, Snow White and that insufferable husband of hers?"

"It's very complicated," Emma offered.

"Then enlighten me Miss Swan," Regina replied.

"Okay, so you know that Henry is my biological son," Regina nodded, "well as the saviour I'm kind of... Snow and Charming's daughter," Emma almost mumbled. Anger seemed to consume Regina's face as Emma continued, "making Henry their grandson."

Her eyes widened and Emma silently cursed.

"So I am his ex-adoptive mother and his ex-great step grandmother," Regina breathed.

"He sees you as his mother," Emma sighed.

"Then did I give him up for some sort of plan?"

"I know it may seem hard to believe, but he is your son, no matter who he is related to."

Regina simply shook her head, seeming to be in her own world.

"I know this is difficult..." Emma began only to be interrupted.

"Where is my father?"

Emma hesitated, "I don't know what happened, but I think he er...passed when you cast the curse."

Nodding Regina seemed to be holding back tears, "what do I do in this town?"

"You're the mayor," when Regina tilted her head Emma elaborated, "you're in charge of the town."

"I think that's enough for tonight."

Emma sighed and nodded, but before she was about to leave Regina asked, "what are you getting out of this Miss Swan?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but me and Henry actually care about you, we just want to help you because you need it," Emma smiled, but felt a pang of guilt at the queen's disbelief.

"Good night Regina," Emma smiled "I'll see you in the morning," before she made her way upstairs.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine.

As Emma went upstairs, Regina let out a sigh.

The more that she learnt about this place the more she felt as if she didn't belong.

 _Have I changed?_ She wondered, as she stared curiously around the room filled with unfamiliar objects. She could see that there were many differences between this realm and the Enchanted Forest, and for some reason she felt much more comfortable here than she ever did living in her palace in fairytale land.

Smiling, she thought about Henry. The more time she spent with him, she began to feel the connection to him that the boy seemed so sure of. She thoroughly enjoyed spending time with him, and she began to feel the thought that this was a trick melting away. Despite this, that feeling was still present. She had spent years alone, with her father as her only real companion, and she had treated him horribly for all that time. Wondering how he died, she felt anger rise and she silently vowed that she would find out and they would regret it.

Feeling the pain in her chest begin to take over, she decided to think more about this in the morning.

* * *

Emma picked one of the guest rooms, after seeing Henry had already fallen asleep in Regina's large bed, seeing him hug a pillow she felt a sad smile form on her face.

Now she lay on the ridiculously comfortable bed staring at the ceiling, and thinking about Regina. The moment that she told her about her father kept playing through her mind. She noticed how good the Evil Queen seemed to be at hiding her feelings, but she just couldn't hide the hurt about her father. _Maybe I should take her to the mausoleum_ she thought.

Turning on her side, Emma closed her eyes determined to fall asleep, but images of a confused and hurt Regina kept making their way through her mind, and she found it more difficult to fall asleep with each passing second.

* * *

"Henry it's time for school," Emma shook her son, who seemed to be smiling through a good dream.

"I don't want to go," he mumbled.

"You had yesterday off, Henry, your mom will kill me when she gets her memory back," Emma laughed.

"But I want to help her," Henry whined.

"You can after school, I'll look after her," Henry sat up and nodded.

"Fine, but don't be late picking me up," he smiled.

With a faux shocked expression Emma replied, "would I ever be?"

"Mom always said that I'm lucky punctuality isn't genetic," he smiled cheekily.

"When did she say that?"

Frowning Henry sighed, "before you broke the curse, she said I could go and see you at the station because I begged her to let me, but you was late for work."

"You're doing everything you can to help her," Emma placed a hand on Henry's shoulder.

"I was a horrible son," he sighed.

"Come on, I need you to help me make her breakfast," smiling he jumped out of bed, eager to help.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Regina asked scathingly, as she wheeled herself into the kitchen.

Looking up from putting a burning pan into the sink, Emma narrowed her eyes, "how did you get out of bed?"

"I thought something was burning. Being afraid for one's life can be quite the motivator to rush into this thing" she argued, gesturing toward the wheelchair.

"We're making breakfast," Henry offered.

Looking around the kitchen, Regina noticed all of the unfamiliar devices, "and the fire?"

"You're a much better cook than both us put together," Emma answered.

A knock at the door, stole Emma's attention, as she ran to the door with a relieved expression.

Turning to Henry, Regina asked, "I cooked for you?" thinking about all of the times that her mother had told her that a lady should never cook as a servant does.

"Yeah, you're the best at it. You always made me anything that I ask for, even if you're tired. Emma just burns everything and then orders from the diner," he laughed.

As if to prove his point, Emma walked in with takeout bags, "Ruby saves the day."

"Ruby?" Regina asked.

"Err... Red Riding Hood," Emma corrected, "since you're already out of bed, want to eat at the breakfast table?"

Nodding, Regina allowed Henry to wheel her to the table in the next room, _so Snow White's best friend is here too,_ she thought.

* * *

Much to her surprise, Regina actually thoroughly enjoyed having a proper meal with Emma and Henry, it felt eerily like the family she had always hoped for. Looking at Emma curiously, she wondered just how their relationship worked, _are we actually friends?_ She thought.

Henry decided to tell Regina all about school, and he let slip that his teacher's name is Mary Margaret, and Regina noticed the hesitation when she asked who she was.

"Snow White," Henry mumbled.

"Your grandmother is your teacher?" Regina asked with a frown.

Henry's eyes widened, and he looked at Emma with shock.

"You said we shouldn't lie if we want her to remember," Emma whisper.

"I've lost my memory, not my hearing," Regina quipped, and Emma blushed.

"So you're okay with that?" Henry asked.

"I've decided to tentatively accept it for the moment," she replied.

"Tentatively?" Emma asked.

"As long as I am not forced to interact with her, I can accept it until this care that has been forced upon me is over," Regina replied.

"That's very kind of you," Emma replied with a smirk on her face.

Smirking back at Emma, Henry looked between the two of them, an idea forming, "I have to go to school," he announced, suddenly eager to leave to the two of them alone.

Nodding Emma got up and helped Regina back into bed while Henry went to get his backpack.

Handing Regina her pain medication and a glass of water, Emma said, "bottoms up your majesty."

"Is this going to make me fall asleep again?" she asked distrustfully.

"You'll wake up before you know it," Emma smirked.

Shaking her head she just took the tablets, and just before she fell asleep she got to experience the strange feeling of her son hugging her goodbye.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten

"Why so eager to leave?" Emma asked as she turned to the corner towards Henry's school.

"Just a theory," he replied.

Emma raised her eyebrow at him but he simply made a locking motion across his lips. She shook her head as she pulled up outside he grabbed his backpack, just before he got out of the car he said, "you should take mom out, she doesn't like the couch."

Emma sighed and leaned back against her seat, figuring that she still had a few hours before Regina woke up, she got out of the car and decided to go and talk to an expert on the Evil Queen.

* * *

"Hey, Emma," Snow said, as her daughter walked into her still empty classroom, "what's up?"

"I have a question about Regina," Emma said awkwardly.

"Why would you come to me?" she asked in shock.

"You've known her the longest," Emma replied.

Snow was about to protest before realising that she was right, "okay, but I don't think I know her the best."

"Henry suggested that she should get out of her house, where should I take her where she can't injure people?"

Her mother thought for a moment, "her apple tree," she suggested.

Emma cringed, "well me and Henry have this thing about no lying to her, I don't think she'll take the missing limb well."

Snow laughed and shook her head, "well than go and repair it before you go and get Regina."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Seriously, Emma?"

The saviour sighed, "I was hoping that the answer wouldn't be magic, but it always is."

"You really need to embrace it sweetheart," Snow laughed, the bell rang and kids started to file in.

Emma smiled when she saw Henry give her a questioning look, she quickly bade goodbye to her mother before going to regenerate a dead tree limb.

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" Regina asked, looking marginally less nervous in the bug this time.

"I said it's a surprise," Emma replied with a laugh. After arriving at the tree she had spent an hour and half trying to repair it, and then it took another two hours for Regina to wake up, so it was now lunch time and all that magic had made Emma starving.

Parking outside town hall, Emma hopped out of the car and helped Regina into her wheelchair.

Wheeling her around the back, she heard a sharp intake of breath as the apple tree came into view, "I figured you would want to see a familiar sight," Emma smiled.

"That's...very thoughtful," Regina replied with a weak smile, clearly masking the many other emotions that she was feeling.

"I'll be back in one second," Emma announced, as she ran back to the car, Regina continued to stare in awe at the tree, she hadn't even thought about it since she woke up.

Emma returned a moment later holding a picnic basket, she placed it on the bench and wheeled Regina over towards it.

Eyeing Regina laughed, "is it from the diner?"

"Well unless you want to be poisoned, you should probably see that as a good thing," Emma smirked as she began unpacking what Ruby had packed her.

After a few moments of silence, where they both ate their lunch, Regina eyed the tree suspiciously, "is there something wrong with my tree?"

Emma stopped mid-bite and gulped, "errr...what do you mean?"

Pointing at the resurrected branch, "that side looks different."

Emma visibly winced, wishing for billionenth time that she was better at magic, "you don't want to hear that story."

"Trust me, I do."

"I may have cut it down," Emma replied sheepishly.

"Why?" Regina asked indignantly.

"Because you pissed me off," Emma tried a small laugh.

"So we weren't friends?" Regina tilted her head.

"It was more of a tentative agreement that murder is too far because of Henry," Emma admitted.

"So why are you helping me?" Regina asked, still staring at the tree.

"Because I care about you, and I think we could have been friends without the whole saviour and Evil Queen thing."

Turning to look at her, Regina asked, "so you want to be my friend?"

"I enjoy being around you," Emma replied with a blush.

Regina nodded, before admitting, "you're not as insufferable as you're parents."

Emma let out a small laugh, "is that the best compliment you've got?"

"It's the best you'll get."

Silence fell again, and Emma decided to test her luck, "has any of your memory come back?"

Regina considered this for a moment before replying, "I've being having these dreams, I'm not sure if they're memories or not."

Nodding Emma came up with an idea, "okay, tell me what happened and I'll tell you whether it's real or not."

Regina thought for a moment, "that sounds surprisingly reasonable."

"I am capable of good ideas your majesty," Emma laughed.

"Okay, I dreamed throwing you down some stairs with magic," Regina began.

"Yeah, that happened and I have a scar to prove it," Emma laughed again.

Regina nodded, "I dreamed that you attacked me with a sword."

"That didn't happen, and why are all of these so violent?"

"It's how my psyche works," she replied with a shrug.

"And why is that?" Emma asked as casually as possible.

Regina shook her head and simply said "no we are not doing this."

"Doing what?" Emma asked.

"I am not telling you how I became a monster so that you can sympathise and judge me."

"You're not a monster!" Emma argued.

Regina looked at her suspiciously, before Emma's phone began to ring, looking down Emma saw that it was Henry.

"What is it kid?"

"The boiler at school is broken, you need to come and pick me up."

Sighing Emma agreed and hung up.

"I need to pick up Henry, want to come with?"

"Why not?" Regina shrugged as she allowed herself to be wheeled back to the car in complete silence.

 **A/N Sorry for the confusion with the last update, for some reason the wrong chapter was posted and when I tried to repost it was posted as a new chapter, but this is the actual chapter ten :)**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven

The silence stretched on all through the car ride to Henry's school.

Emma couldn't think of what she could say to possibly convince Regina that she was no longer the Evil Queen, especially considering that no one had given her the chance to prove it herself. Occasionally casting sidelong looks at the mayor Emma wondered what was going through her mind. _How can I get her to put her walls down,_ but she was interrupted yet again by her phone.

Sighing she answered and put it on loud speaker, "hello."

"Hi Emma, it's David."

Regina looked at Emma questioningly, and she replied sheepishly, "prince Charming."

Regina narrowed her eyes, and a scowl set itself onto her face.

"What?" David asked.

"Regina's with me," Emma explained.

David audibly gulped and Emma couldn't help but smile that he could be afraid of someone that he wasn't even in the same room as.

"What did you want?" Emma asked.

"Well I spoke to Gold about Regina's magic, he said that based on what Greg and Tamara told us the electric that they used suppressed her magic. Apparently it should come back with time."

Emma nodded, looking at the angry queen she wondered whether it would be a good thing or not.

"Who are Greg and Tamara?" Regina asked.

"I'll call you later," Emma said hastily as she hung up, and parked outside Henry's school, "err...they're the ones who captured and tortured you, they gave you a memory potion."

Regina's eyes widened "and where are they now?"

"I dealt with them," Emma replied.

"Meaning that you gave them a slap on the wrist and sent them on their merry way," Regina's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"They're in prison, the justice system is different here, dungeons and torture aren't legal," Emma replied, "and there's a much stricter policy with the death penalty."

Regina let out a huff, "this realm is boring."

Emma laughed seeing Henry's mother acting like a petulant child, but she was distracted by the sound of the door opening and she turned to see Henry, "let me in," he demanded with a small smile thrown Regina's way.

Emma scowled at him before getting out and pulling her seat forward allowing him into the back seat.

Once Emma had returned to her position at the wheel Henry leaned forward, "so what did you guys do today?"

"Miss Swan took me to my apple tree," Regina replied.

"Why didn't I think that?" Henry laughed, "so did you have fun?"

"It wasn't horrible," Regina answered, and Emma noticed the smallest smiles threatening to show itself.

"Are you feeling any better?" Henry said as Emma began to drive towards the mansion.

"As soon as my magic returns I can just heal myself," Regina replied casually.

"What?" Henry asked looking at Emma.

"Gold said that her magic should return naturally," Emma replied.

"How long would that take?" Henry asked, and Emma furrowed her eyebrows seeing how disappointed he looked.

"I have no idea" Regina answered, "I hope it's soon."

Henry nodded and fell back in his seat, and Emma made mental note to talk to him about his plans.

* * *

Once she had helped Regina into bed and given her the pain killers that she so clearly needed, she went up to Henry's room where he was supposed to be doing the work that they should have done in class.

Walking in, she saw him staring at his desktop image listlessly.

"What's up?" she asked leaning against the door frame.

Looking up he gave her a small smile, and Emma wondered whether he was hoping for someone else to be at the door checking on him.

"I'm just worried what would happen if she gets her magic back before she gets her memory back," he answered sullenly.

"Well you looked like you had a plan, so tell me and maybe I can help," she replied as she went to sit on the guest bed.

Perking up, he seriously hoped he wasn't wrong, "we need to find her true love."

"I thought of that, Henry, but Daniel's gone," Emma gave a sad smile.

"I know she loved him, but I don't think that he was her true love," he answered trying to gauge her reaction.

Emma had a feeling that she knew where he was going with this, and she felt a flutter of happiness and anxiety erupt at the same time.

"Okay," Emma nodded.

"You do love her, don't you?" Henry asked.

She considered denying it, but thought better of it, "Is it that obvious?" Emma blushed.

"I think it makes perfect sense," he smiled.

"Can optimism skip a generation?" she laughed.

"You just need to kiss her and she'll get her memory back."

"Calm down," she laughed as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"You don't want to even try?"

"Henry, Gold said that it has to go both ways, assuming that she even loved me when she had all of her memories she certainly doesn't love me now," Emma sighed.

"What makes you think that she didn't love you?" Henry asked.

"What makes you think that she did?"

"Well thinking back I think that she really wanted to be with you, but she used her anger to hide it," he pondered.

"How old are you?"

"Hilarious," he mumbled.

"How about you, she seems to love you," Emma retorted, "you could kiss her."

"It's only been a few days," he mumbled.

"I have a plan," Emma announced, Henry smiled and nodded for her to continue, "we need to get her to love one of us before she gets her magic back, the first one to do it should kiss her."

Henry thought about it, "so it's a competition?"

"It's more of a win-win situation, if you're right when she remembers she'll be able to love us both," Emma bargained.

Henry nodded, "I like it, we need a name," he began tapping his chin in contemplation.

"Operation mongoose?" Emma suggested.

"You thought about this?" Henry laughed.

"I know how your mind works, anyway finish your work or Snow and Regina will kill me," she chuckled as she walked away and Henry just smirked as he clicked on word and typed 'Operation Mongoose ideas," at the top of the page.

 **A/N Let me know whether you would prefer Henry or Emma to 'win', either way it will end in swanqueen :) also please let me know if you have any ideas for other stories :)**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve

 _"Power is seductive, but so is love. You can have that again."_

 _"I just want to be happy."_

 _"You can be of this I'm sure, I believe given the chance we can find happiness together. But the choice is yours."_

 _"I think you're right, I can be happy, just not here."_

 _Reaching forward the queen sank her hand into her father's chest, as she ripped out his heart he fell to the ground, lifeless, as she whispered, "I'm sorry."_

Regina shot up with a gasp, which was followed by a gasp of pain.

"Mom?" Henry asked as he ran in from the kitchen with a half full glass of water.

Laying it down on the side, he ran over to Regina and helped her lie back against the bed, "what happened?"

"Bad dream," she mumbled.

"Why don't you tell me about it?" he suggested, she looked at him doubtfully and he continued, "you always got me to tell you my bad dreams, it helps."

Regina nodded and sighed, "I know who killed my father."

Henry's eyes widened, remembering that part of the story book, he had completely forgotten that the Evil Queen would more than likely be thinking about her father, the only person that she loved.

"Are you sure? It could have just been a nightmare," he bargained.

"It felt like a memory," she replied and Henry saw the beginnings of tears form in her eyes. Looking at Henry she asked, "did you know what I did to him?"

Henry nodded timidly.

"Why would you want me as a mother?"

Henry shook his head and placed his hand over hers, "you are my mother, and as soon as you remember you just need to sign the papers to make it legal."

"Well obviously I was trying to leave, please tell me why," she asked, and for the first time Henry saw true vulnerability in her eyes.

Sighing he nodded, "well you promised to not use magic for me and you did it, for a while. But then Cora showed up..."

Regina's eyes widened and Henry noted solemnly the pure fear in them, "my mother is alive."

"Well, not now," he cringed, "but the Mad Hatter did lie to you. Anyway she framed you for killing Archie...er Jiminy Cricket...and when no one believed that you were innocent, you kind of...teamed up with your mother," Henry mumbled. Regina nodded he continued, "well you was kind of tricked into giving her heart back, but it was cursed so she died. I was such an idiot leaving you alone after that," he frowned at his realisation.

"It's alright," Regina sighed.

"No it is not alright! You promised you would redeem yourself and you did, I just never gave you a proper chance. You even came to say goodbye before you planned to leave, but I just shouted at you. Maybe if I had realised that you was planning to leave I could have stopped Greg and Tamara from getting to you, I was a horrible son to the best mother in the world," he ranted.

Regina looked at him in shock at his admission.

After a moment a realisation hit her, "I have no blood relations left," she mumbled, before realising that she had said out loud she looked at Henry hoping he hadn't heard.

Henry gave her a weak smile, "well no offence but your 'blood relations' only seemed to make things worse for you. I know that you miss your father and probably your mother a little bit, but you have to admit that neither of them helped you to find your real happy ending."

"Well my father did give up his heart to allow me to come to Storybrooke, and..." she hesitated before she looked at Henry's hopeful face, "living with you and Emma has not been the worst thing that has ever happened to me, no matter how mundane this realm seems to be," she laughed. She frowned again and asked, "who tricked me into giving my mother's heart back?"

"You really don't want to know," Henry said desperately.

"Why? I would like to thank them if anything," she gave him a tiny smile, all that she could muster in this moment.

Henry sighed and remembered their honesty policy, besides she would remember eventually, "Snow White."

"Really?" Regina asked in shock, "how could the fairest of them all even consider murder?"

Henry tried not to laugh at her phrasing as he explained, "she found out that Cora poisoned her mother so that you could marry her father."

Regina nodded, and for the first time in a long time, she felt sorrow for Snow. She couldn't believe the lengths that her mother went to ensure that she became a queen. Though she would never be best friends with woman, maybe she could stop trying to ruin her life, and with an internal smile she thought that she probably shouldn't hurt Emma's mother.

"You're not mad?" Henry asked.

"Was I?" she replied casually.

"Yeah you tried to kill her," he answered with a frown.

"Force of habit," she laughed, and Henry continued to look at her with a dumfounded expression so she continued, "I thought that she was already dead, if anything it's a relief."

Henry just shook his head, hoping that she would remember that statement when she got her memories back.

"Does this mean that you won't hurt her?" he asked trying to hide his excitement.

"I suppose not, why are you planning something?" she asked curiously.

"It means that we can get out of the house, do you want to go out for breakfast tomorrow?" he replied.

"I suppose it would be nice, but surely the townspeople won't appreciate it," she frowned.

"Trust me, they go along with anything Emma wants, and I don't think they're as afraid anymore," he smiled.

Looking around Regina realised that it was the middle of the night, "why were you awake?"

"I was getting a glass of water," he chuckled as he picked it up, "I'm glad I was thirsty now."

Regina gave him a weak smile.

"Why don't you tell me about my grandfather?" Henry asked, and in a bold move he lay down next to her.

Regina's smile widened as she thought about her father, "okay..."

* * *

Emma stretched as she made her way down the stairs, she was really starting to hope that she could live in this house forever; it beat the loft any day.

Wondering how she could possibly get Regina to love her, she was stopped dead in her tracks as she entered the living room. A smile took over her face, and she felt her heart swell with happiness at the sight of Regina hugging Henry, both of them sleeping with smiles on their faces.

She turned to leave as quickly as possible, only to walk into a table and knock a book onto the floor.

"Emma?" a sleepy Henry asked.

"Sorry," Emma whispered.

Henry looked around, trying figure out where he had fallen asleep. Once he realised he broke into a smile remembering that he had fallen asleep after Regina had told him all about his namesake. If it were possible his smile widened as he saw Regina fast asleep with her arm draped across him.

"What happened?" Emma whispered.

"She had a nightmare, so I talked to her," he replied.

Emma looked at Regina, not quite believing that she would be so willing to talk to Henry about a nightmare, "nightmare or memory?"

"Memory," Henry replied solemnly, "she knows what happened to her father."

"What did happen?" Emma asked curiously.

"I ripped his heart out," Regina's voice joined the conversation.

"Regina, you're awake?" Emma asked in shock.

Removing her arm she sat up and stretched a little, before offering Henry a smile, "you're not as quiet as you would like to believe Miss Swan."

Emma nodded with a sheepish smile, "are you okay?"

"Henry helped me," she answered with a smile. "He also told me what your mother did to mine."

Emma's mouth fell open as she looked at Henry in disbelief.

"It's okay Emma, I'm fine with it," Regina replied casually.

"I find that very hard to believe," Emma answered sceptically.

"Well it would seem that our lives are now too tightly interwoven for me to get any satisfying revenge. At this point if I hurt her, I would just hurt myself," Regina explained.

"How?" Henry asked, clearly confused.

"Well I can't very well hurt your grandmother, and your mother," she answered, trying desperately to not make a big deal out of it.

Emma and Henry broke into identical smiles, and though Regina would probably never admit it, she found their similarities adorable.

"Henry said that we could go out for breakfast since I won't hurt anyone," Regina announced after clearing her throat.

Emma looked at Henry, "that's an awesome idea, I'll go and get ready. Kid, go and pick out some clothes for your mom and then get ready."

Henry nodded and ran off upstairs.

"Are you sure you're ready?" Emma asked turning to Regina.

Looking at the direction that Henry had ran off in, she smiled, "I want to make him happy."

Emma's eyes widened, _operation mongoose may be shorter than we planned_ she thought.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen

Silence fell over the busy diner as Emma wheeled Regina through the door, closely followed by Henry.

Regina looked around, seeing all of the familiar faces that at the same time looked completely different. They all stared at her in shock, but at Emma's death stare they tentatively continued with their breakfast.

Ruby walked over and to the trio's surprise, actually smiled at Regina.

"Hey guys, I was wondering when you would emerge from that mansion," she chuckled, "why don't you take the booth in the corner, there should be plenty of room for the wheelchair."

Emma gave her a appreciative smile, and walked over to said corner. Once they were all settled, Emma handed Regina the menu.

Inspecting it she smirked, "I believe I have already tasted a lot of the things that they serve."

Henry chuckled and Emma playfully slapped his arm with faux outrage.

"Just pick something," Emma pouted.

Regina just laughed as she looked down the selection, "why don't you just order me what I usually have," she suggested.

"That's a great idea," Henry smiled, for the first time he had the feeling that she actually wanted to remember.

Fifteen minutes later the three of them were laughing, as they ate, mostly at Emma's expense.

Snow and Charming walked in at the moment that Emma threw her fork down petulantly and crossed her arms beginning to fake pout again.

Though she knew that it was unfair, Snow began to feel instantly jealous. Since the curse broke she had been wishing that she, Charming, Henry and Emma would be able to have family moments like the one that she was witnessing, but Emma just seemed too closed off.

Looking at her husband she saw a frown had formed, and she had a feeling that he was having the same thoughts.

Sighing she decided that she should at least go and say hello to the daughter that she hadn't seen in days, she only hoped that Regina still didn't have her magic.

"Emma," she smiled as she walked over.

"Hey Mary Margaret," Emma smiled, "am I uncouth?"

"What?" she laughed.

"According to her majesty, I eat like a child," Emma pouted.

"Well by Enchanted Forest standards are quite...uncivilised," Snow replied.

"Whose side are you on?" Emma asked exasperated.

"Did you want her to lie?" Regina asked.

Emma just sighed, "fine, then teach me."

"There isn't enough time in the world," Regina teased.

Snow wondered whether Regina had got her memories back, but decided that Emma would have told her. Then it suddenly occurred to her that Regina hadn't even made a threat or a comment, she seemed happier than she ever had before.

In a bold move, Snow decided to test the waters "are you feeling better Regina?"

Snow noticed Regina's jaw clench, indicating that she still couldn't stand her, but she seemed to be actively trying to avoid violence, "I'm better than I was."

Snow nodded awkwardly, she internally sighed, "well, we'll leave you to your meal."

Grabbing Charming's arm she dragged him out of the door, deciding that she was no longer hungry.

Henry furrowed his brow as he watched his grandmother walk away, "I'll be right back," he smiled.

"Hey grandma," he called.

"What's up Henry," Snow smiled, having stopped in her tracks outside the diner.

"What's up with you?" he countered, when no reply came he asked, "are you jealous?"

Snow opened her mouth to protest, but then seemed to deflate, "I'm being ridiculous. I told Emma to pursue a relationship with Regina."

Henry laughed, "you are being ridiculous, Emma has dated people before, she's never had parents. You need to give her more time."

"But she's not going to want to spend time with us when they get together," Snow pouted.

"Come on, that's stupid," Charming interjected. Snow looked at her husband in shock and he elaborated "when Regina gets her memory back she will know that Emma wants to spend time with us. If she really loves her than she won't stop her from being with her entire family, Emma just needs to focus on Regina at the moment, that's all."

Henry smiled at his grandfather and said "exactly."

Snow sighed and nodded, "Regina better hurry up and get her memory back."

Henry nodded in agreement, "we're working on that."

Meanwhile back in the diner Emma smiled at Regina, "I honestly thought you would murder her on sight."

Regina just shook her head and laughed, "it took some restraint, she is still has that same murder worthy look."

"Hey," Emma said indignantly, "she's trying."

"I was joking Miss Swan," Regina smirked, "though she is still annoying."

Emma shook her head, "it's good to know you're trying."

"She's alive isn't she?" Regina countered.

"Well you never managed to kill her before," Emma smirked.

Regina raised her eyebrow, a half smile revealing her amusement, "it was not for lack of trying, she is surprisingly good at surviving."

"That must have been irritating," Emma laughed.

"You have no idea," Regina shook her head, "by the way if you're going to wait until you know how to eat with manners you're going to starve."

Emma pouted again, and Regina handed her the knife and fork, "here at least hold them in the right hands."

Regina smirked watching Emma trying to awkwardly cut up her food, and when Henry slipped back into the booth he burst out laughing.

"Forget this, I'm too hungry," Emma said, switching the cutlery back to the wrong hands.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen

Regina smiled to herself as she watched Emma break every rule that her mother had ever taught her. She couldn't help but feel that this moronic woman was completely perfect, even if she is the product of the two idiots.

"Emma?" a male voice called angrily, breaking Regina out of her reverie.

"Neal," Emma gasped, honestly she had forgotten about him.

Looking up at him, she noticed that he was obviously way over the suggested amount of alcohol, she could actually smell it from the booth.

"So you ruin my life, and then spend every minute with _her,"_ he said accusatorily.

"I did not ruin your life," Emma replied, getting out of her seat she put a hand up to halt his approach towards her family.

"I found out where your 'evidence' came from" he spat, "you used magic."

"So?" Emma asked indignantly, suddenly noticing everyone staring at her.

"You know how I feel about it," he replied.

"So because you hate it, I should never do it?"

"Well if you love me..."

"What?" Emma laughed.

Looking curiously from Emma to Henry he said again, "if you love me."

"I did love you, and then you abandoned me," Emma whispered.

Henry looked in shock at his father, and Regina stared at him angrily wondering just who the hell he was.

Sighing in frustration he continued, "the point is that the magic might have just shown you wanted you wanted to see."

"They both confessed!" Emma almost shouted.

"Yeah, using magic," he pointed out.

Regina narrowed her eyes at the stranger, she only wished that she would be able to give him another reason to be afraid of magic.

"Neal, just leave me alone, we're trying to have breakfast," Emma sighed, turning she prepared to sit back down.

"No," he said far too loudly, "you can't put my fiancé in jail and then abandon me."

"Oh that's funny Neal," Emma replied, anger overtaking her face, "you put me in jail and abandoned me. I put your guilty fiancé in jail and you left your pregnant girlfriend in jail because a puppet told you to."

"What?" Henry squeaked.

Emma internally slapped herself, she had completely forgotten that she was in public.

"Henry, it's not as bad as it sounds," Emma said desperately, though she knew that there was no sugar coating this one.

"You left Emma in jail, and you somehow made me believe that you're better than my mom," Henry said outraged as he approached his father.

"I am better than the Evil Que..." before he could finish he fell to the ground, as Emma retracted her fist from his face.

* * *

After getting David to take Neal to the holding cell, Emma took Regina and Henry home.

Henry ran upstairs to grab his laptop, while Emma offered to help Regina onto the sofa bed.

"Do I have to go on that wretched thing again?" Regina asked, "that man said that you have magic, make it more comfortable."

Emma laughed and shook her head, "I'll probably make it worse."

"I find that hard to believe," Regina smiled.

Emma felt her heart flutter, "okay, but if I make it worse you can't moan."

Holding her hands up, she focused on making Regina happy. For the first time, she felt her magic spring forward instantly, there was a faint glow around the sofa bed, but otherwise it looked the same, "I told you," Emma pointed.

Regina placed her hand on the mattress and smirked, "and I told you."

Emma copied her action, and a huge smile adorned her face when she realised that the mattress was now ten times more comfortable than it was before.

Helping Regina onto the bed, she sat on the edge and said, "I'm sorry about Neal."

Regina nodded, feeling anger at the mention of him, "yes, who exactly is he?"

Emma sighed and lay back, "Henry's father."

"You and him?" Regina laughed, "I wouldn't say that you would be very compatible."

"I was young and stupid," Emma smiled sadly, "but at least I got Henry out of it, and in a way I got meet you because of Neal."

"How very charming of you," Regina teased.

"Ha ha" Emma said.

"Seriously, he said that you love him," Regina frowned.

Emma felt her heart flutter again as she detected a hint of jealously, "past tense," she clarified.

Regina smiled, and they looked at each other far longer than would be deemed appropriate, only to be interrupted.

"Hey, do you guys want to watch a movie?" Henry asked as he walked in with his laptop and an HDmi cable.

"What did you have in mind?" Emma asked, tearing her eyes away from Regina.

"What's a movie?" Regina asked.

Henry laughed and shook his head, "it's the same as the TV shows we watched, but it's longer." Regina nodded and Henry turned to Emma, "I was thinking Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

"No way," Emma laughed.

"What?" Regina asked, very clearly confused.

"Well you know that we say that everyone in this town is a character," Regina nodded tentatively, "well that movie is this world's most famous version of how the Evil Queen tried to kill Snow White."

"Does she win?" Regina asked and Henry burst out laughing, Regina crossed her arms and murmured, "I'll take that as a no."

"Don't worry mom, you're nothing like her," Henry assured.

"Very well then, I would like to see how I am portrayed in this world."

Henry quickly hooked up his laptop, and a few minutes later the three of them lay with Henry in the middle, as the Disney logo showed up on screen.


	15. Chapter 15

"That never happened!" Regina shouted as the Evil Queen asked who was the fairest of them all.

"So it really wasn't because she was prettier than you?" Emma teased.

Regina narrowed her eyes, "it was because she was an insufferable brat, I'm beginning to believe that it's hereditary."

Henry burst out laughing and Emma just smirked, "are you saying that our son is insufferable?" Emma asked in mock outrage.

"I'm saying that my parenting must have reversed the effects of your Charmingblood," Regina replied.

"Guys, I'm trying to watch the movie, argue later," Henry chuckled.

Emma just shook her head, "I'm going to make popcorn."

Regina gave her a questioning look, "I can't explain it you'll just have to wait and see."

Five minutes later Emma returned with a bowl of sweet popcorn, and she smiled when she noticed that Henry had placed his head on Regina's shoulder.

Offering the bowl to the queen, she looked at it sceptically, "I find it very hard to believe that I would ever eat this."

She felt Henry laugh shake her shoulder as he replied, "you never did."

Regina looked up at Emma with a triumphant grin, but she only rolled her eyes and pushed the bowl forward, "I want to teach you how fun it is to be uncouth."

"And why would I want to learn that?" Regina laughed.

"Well it may take time to teach someone manners, but no manners is a pretty easy thing to learn, watch," on the final word she grabbed a handful of popcorn, shoving it all into her mouth at the same time.

Regina watched in disgust as the crumbs fell onto the sofa bed, "that is disgusting."

With her mouth still full she replied, "but it's fun." Swallowing, she pouted, "please."

Regina shook her head, not quite believing how cute she found this woman, grabbing considerably less popcorn than Emma had she made to put one piece in her mouth, before Emma shook her head. Sighing she decided to just get this over and done with, shoving them into her mouth, with far more grace than Emma had, she was very surprised as a sweet taste danced across her taste buds. Seeing how pleased Emma looked, she decided that she wanted the smile to widen, so she did something that she had been trained to never do, with her mouth still full she asked "happy?"

Henry blanched at his mother, and Emma began smiling from ear to ear.

Swallowing, Regina continued "this means that I get to actually teach you manners, and you can't tell anyone that I ever did that."

Emma nodded, and offered the bowl to Henry.

* * *

Once the movie had finished, Emma sent Henry to finish his homework before dinner.

"There is popcorn all over my bed," Regina moaned.

Emma laughed, "you know I think you may be able to go to your actual room now, you do feel better don't you?"

Regina nodded, she had been secretly wondering what the upstairs of the house looked like.

"You better not be lying just to go upstairs."

"Would I ever lie to you?" Regina asked with her hand over her heart.

"I believe that you would your majesty," Emma chuckled.

"Just take me upstairs Miss Swan."

Emma sighed, before an idea sparked to her mind. Thinking about just how much Regina wanted to go upstairs, she focused on taking her to her room. White began to bellow around them, and within a second they were both poofed to the master bed room.

Regina looked around, noticing that Emma had poofed her onto the bed, where Henry was currently sat on hunched over his laptop.

Unconsciously she looked over his shoulder, "what's operation mongoose?"

Henry looked between his mothers, showing symptoms of shock.

Emma grabbed his laptop and looked at the list he had formed, he must have planned ten separate scenarios.

"You were planning without me?"

"I wanted to win," he blushed.

"It's not a competition," Emma laughed.

"What's not a competition?" Regina asked.

"Errr..." both mother and son said in unison.

Regina looked at both them critically before Henry admitted "we were planning ways to make you love us."

"And why would you do that?" Regina breathed, despite everything she was beginning to believe that they may have been plotting against her this whole time.

"Well if you love one of us like you did before, than we would be able to break the memory curse," Emma explained, also looking very embarrassed.

"You want me to remember?" Regina asked.

"Of course we do, how can you have your happy ending if you don't remember all of the happy memories of the past," Henry pointed out.

"I have happy memories?" Regina frowned.

"Well, yes, loads of them," Henry answered, once again feeling guilt at realising that she was going to remember everything bad he had done.

Regina nodded, for the first time she thought about all of the happy memories she must have of Henry's childhood, and she did wish that she could remember more about Emma, even if they weren't always friends. "Well I believe that your plan worked," she mumbled.

Henry and Emma looked at each other in shock, "what do you mean?" Henry asked.

"This operation mongoose...it would appear that it was successful."

"Who won?" Henry asked, seeming to bypass his shock.

"It wasn't a competition," Emma scolded.

"I believe it may have been a tie," she mumbled.

Henry nodded, "that's awesome, we can break the curse."

"No one said anything about true love," Emma whispered, seeing just how uncomfortable Regina looked.

"Well maybe the situation requires a test," Regina suggested.

Henry nodded eagerly and got onto his knees, he was about to kiss her cheek only to be stopped by Emma, "hey, you don't get to win."

"I thought it wasn't a competition," Regina laughed.

"Of course it was," Emma huffed.

Regina rolled her eyes, she couldn't believe that she was actually hoping that this woman was her true love.

"Do it at the same time then."

Emma nodded and leant down, "one, two, three," on the count of three Emma and Henry placed their own kiss on each of Regina's cheeks.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter sixteen

As soon as the two pairs of lips made contact with her face, Regina felt a surge of energy. In an instant her magic flooded to the surface, but as much as she tried she couldn't remember anymore than she had a moment ago.  
Henry and Emma pulled back at the same time and looked at Regina expectantly.  
"So..." asked Henry.  
Regina shook her head, and the blonde and brunette each deflated with disappointment.  
"I thought you said that you love us," Henry said accusatorily.  
"Henry!" Emma scolded.

Hanging his head in shame he mumbled, "sorry."

 _Am I even capable of love?_ Regina wondered as tears sprung forward without permission. As idiotic as it was to believe that she could love two people that she had known for a few days, she had sincerely hoped that it would work, she had wished that she would be able to finally be part of a functioning family unit.

Emma and Henry remained in silence for a few moments, before Emma announced, "I'll go and grab some dinner," with that she all but ran out of the room.

Closing his laptop Henry sighed. "you should probably get some sleep."

"Why were you in my bedroom to begin with?" Regina asked before he left.

"Because you sent all of my stuff to Emma's apartment when you left," he replied with a sad smile.

"Why would I do that?" Regina sighed, feeling indescribable guilt knowing that she had given up on her son.

"Because you wanted to make sure that I had everything for my happy ending," he answered.

Regina looked at him sceptically before he continued, "you thought that I would be happier if you were gone, that's why you tried to leave, because you wanted to make my life better, but the days when I didn't know where you were gone were the worst days of my life. I was just too stubborn to admit it."

"Why wouldn't you admit it?"

"Because I just met my dad, I was being an idiot trying to make you feel like you wasn't one of my parents. Honestly, I think I was just coming to terms with my weird family tree," he laughed.

Regina looked at him curiously, "I'll make you one if you want, though it might not be easy."

Regina laughed, "maybe we can make it together."

Henry smiled and nodded eagerly, "I'll go get some paper."

As he left in search of a pen and paper, Regina waved her hand, focusing on undoing a spell that she couldn't remember casting. Within a moment she sensed the previously empty room down the hall fill with her son's possessions.

* * *

"It didn't work," Emma sighed, as she put her head in her hands.

"It's going to be okay," Snow assured her, putting her hand on her daughters shoulder, while Charming walked over and placed a hot cocoa on the coffee table.

"What if she never remembers?" Emma asked, as she looked between her parents.

"You can't think like that?" Charming answered.

"You know hope doesn't work for everything," Emma almost spat.

"I thought that you read Henry's book." Snow laughed.

"I still haven't actually processed that any of that happened," Emma sighed.

Snow looked at her with a smirk, "after everything that has happened."

"Think like Mary Margaret for a second, and ask yourself if you would ever believe it," Emma replied petulantly.

Charming laughed and pulled his daughter into a one armed hug, "you have a point, but it did happen, think of all of the magic you have done over the past few days just because you wanted to help Regina."

"Then why didn't the kiss work, me and Henry both love her," Emma whined.

"It's only been a few days, she can't remember the extent to which she loves you both. Think about everything that she went through in her life, it's unfair to expect her to be able to develop true love so quickly," Mary Margaret suggested.

Extracting herself from her father's hug, Emma looked at her mother, "what do you expect me to do?"

"You need to be patient, I knew that I loved your father the first time I saw him, but I still hit him with a rock. True love is not an easy thing, it can be destined but it still needs to be felt to actually be true," Mary Margaret clarified.

Emma sighed dramatically, and put her head on her mother's shoulder, and grabbed the hot cocoa.

"You know she's probably feeling unsure right now?" Charming pondered.

"What do you mean?" Emma asked, after swallowing a gulp of chocolate.

"Well, she believed that it would work, so she obviously believed that you're her true love, but it didn't work and then you ran away," Charming explained.

Almost throwing the cocoa onto the table Emma's stared at her father, "you could have pointed that out earlier."

Charming laughed and pointed at the door, "just go."

Emma nodded, and quickly hugged each of them "thanks," before running out of the apartment.

Once she left, Charming looked at his wife curiously, "you need to stop smiling, you may split your face."

She seemed to be vibrating with happiness "she came to us for advice," she announced she leant into her husband.

He mirrored her smile as he wrapped his arm around her, "I know."

* * *

"Rumplestiltskin is your grandfather," Regina gaped.

Henry nodded as he added it to the family tree.

"Okay, so you go here and here," he said as he added 'Regina' next to 'Leopold' and then put it above his name.

Regina shook her head as she inspected the completed family tree, "I'm guessing it wasn't a coincidence that I adopted Snow's grandson."

"No, Gold planned it because he wanted Emma to break the curse," Henry explained, Regina looked at him in shock, "are you really surprised that he used you?"

Regina crossed her arms, "I suppose I shouldn't be, but still."

Henry laughed and put his hand on her shoulder, "well it all worked out."

"Not completely."

Henry frowned, "what do you mean?"

Looking into Henry's green eyes she sighed, "I really want to remember."

Henry smiled, "I know you do, and you will. Me and Emma will make you love us if it is the last thing we do," he laughed. Regina raised her eyebrows and he explained, "I read what you did at the wedding in my book."

"What book?"

Henry's eyes widened, "I'm such an idiot, you can read about everything that happened in the Enchanted Forest since the wedding, but it's still at grandma's apartment."

"No it's not," Regina said casually.

Henry tilted his head, "what?"

"Well you seemed so sad that all of your things weren't her so I restored your bedroom," she clarified.

"How?" he asked, clearly completely dumbfounded.

"My magic came back when you and Emma kissed me," she explained.

Henry just gaped at her for a few moments, only to be interrupted by Emma running into the room.

"I thought you were getting dinner," Regina laughed.

Emma looked down at her empty hands, "crap, I forgot. What's wrong with the kid?"

"She got her magic back when we kissed her," Henry answered.

Emma gaped at Regina, "why didn't you tell us?"

Regina shook her head and looked down at her lap.

Henry placed his hand on her shoulder, "you know you can tell us anything."

"Well the last time that I mentioned it you looked so disappointed, and you did say that I was trying not to use it for you. I thought you would think less of me," she sighed.

"Have you healed yourself?" Henry asked. Regina looked at him with a confused expression as she nodded, only to be surprised as Henry launched forward and hugged her. "I was wrong to ask you not to use magic, its part of who you are. I should have just asked you to use it for good," he said against her shoulder.

Regina let out a small laugh as she put her arms around him, she felt her eyes moisten at his words, "I promise I will, my little prince."

Henry pulled back and stared at her.

"What?" she laughed.

"You used to call me that all of the time," he replied, as a small smile started to spread.

Regina frowned, "I don't remember ever saying it."

"Maybe it's a reflex kind of thing," Emma suggested.

Regina looked up at the blonde "so are you actually going to get dinner," she laughed.

Emma smiled, "I'll be back soon."

"No wait," Henry said, and Emma turned to face him, "now that mom is healed you can take her on an actual date," he announced. Jumping off the bed, he kissed Regina and hugged Emma, "I'll go and call grandma to pick me up," he said as he walked away.

Emma and Regina just stared at each other in shock as he left.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter seventeen

"So where do you want to go?" Emma asked awkwardly as Henry waited for Mary Margaret, while they waited they had decided that they would wait in the living room, with Henry watching TV.

Regina shook her head, "not that diner."

Henry laughed and Emma fired him a disapproving look.

"I didn't ask where you didn't want to go," Emma pouted.

"I have only been to three places in this town," Regina laughed.

Emma sighed "why do I have to plan the date."

Regina thought about it and decided that she wanted to see Emma squirm "I'll plan the next one."

Emma went bright red and began to smile dopily.

"Henry, any ideas?" Emma asked.

"You're the adult," he laughed without looking away from the TV.

Emma nodded, "okay, go and get ready and I'll have something planned in half an hour."

Regina laughed as she got up to go upstairs, "good luck with that Miss Swan."

Once she had left Henry turned the TV off, "you know that she's never been on a real date, you better not screw this up."

Emma laughed nervously, "being a bit protective?"

Henry looked at her seriously "I owe her, and making you the perfect girlfriend should help."

"Girlfriend?" Emma squeaked.

"Seriously?" he asked with one eyebrow raised.

"What?" she choked out, he continued to look at her "I guess I didn't really think about what would come next."

Henry stood up and looked her straight in the eye "you better not run away."

Emma thought about it for a moment _Regina would be my girlfriend_ and after a few seconds she broke into a wide smile "I would have to be an idiot to run away, is this protectiveness going to continue."

Henry nodded "you have to be the most romantic person in the world to make me believe that you actually love her."

Emma nodded "do you have any suggestions for the perfect date."

"You have to save that for the proposal," he laughed. Emma looked at him in utter fear and he continued laughing "breathe, she has to remember before that can happen, just take her for dinner."

Emma nodded and pulled out her phone, texting a friend she smiled "I got reservations for that Italian place."

"Wow you have connections" Henry grinned.

"Saviour and sheriff," Emma replied pointing at herself.

"You need to change," Henry pointed out.

Emma nodded and quickly called her mother "I need you to bring me an outfit to wear on a date."

Mary Margaret laughed "I figured, I already picked one."

Emma sighed in relief, she was really starting to see the appeal of having parents "are you nearly here?"

"Actually I was about to knock," she chuckled.

Emma nodded and ran to the door, before dramatically swinging it open, "what you got?"

Mary Margaret chuckled "I brought the first outfit that she ever saw you in."

"That might not be the best idea, I'm pretty sure that it was hate at first sight," Emma replied as she inspected the bag that her mother had handed her.

"Hate is how Regina shows love," she chuckled.

"Is that your way of explaining all of the murder attempts?" Emma countered.

"Just trust me sweetheart," she laughed, before walking past the blonde, "where's Henry?"

"Here," the small brunette answered, he looked very eager to go with his backpack clutched in his hands.

He ran up and hugged Emma, and just before he was about to leave he called "remember, don't screw it up."

Emma felt anxiety build as the door closing was accompanied by her mother's laugh.

* * *

After half an hour of trying to make her hair behave, Emma finally emerged from the spare room and ran down the stairs to see Regina leaning on the back of the sofa smirking.

"Wow" she breathed as she inspected the red dress that she had chosen, along with straightened hair and just the right amount of makeup, "you figured out how to use straighteners?" Emma asked curiously.

"Straightners?" Regina replied.

"For your hair," Emma said awkwardly.

"I did my hair with magic," she laughed.

"Glad to see you're using it for good," Emma laughed.

"It wasn't the most evil thing in the world," she countered.

"I wasn't being sarcastic, I think it's an excellent cause," Emma replied, and she revelled in the fact that she finally got the queen to blush.

"Do I have to get in that yellow contraption," Regina asked nervously.

"I thought we could walk, it's like five minutes away," Emma suggested.

Regina smiled, "lead the way."

* * *

Ten minutes later the two of them were seated, with them each inspecting the menu.

"What is this?"

"Italian," Emma laughed. Regina looked at her curiously, "it's the food from Italy, a country," she explained.

Regina nodded though she still seemed a bit confused, "do you want to spend dinner going through world geography."

The brunette looked at her sceptically, "perhaps later."

Emma nodded before looking down at the menu, "what do you want?"

"I don't know what any of it is," she pointed out.

Emma laughed "good point."

Five minutes later she had painstakingly described what each thing on the menu was, and Regina had gone with spaghetti and meatballs, with Emma opting to have pizza.

As soon as the waiter had walked away, Emma looked at Regina awkwardly, she really had no idea what they should talk about.

"Could you answer a question for me?" Regina asked after a moment, Emma nodded. "why would you want to date me?"

"Because you're perfect," Emma said instantly, before blushing.

"I know for a fact that is not true," Regina replied with a sad smile.

Emma reached across the table, and after a moment Regina reached her hand forward intertwining their fingers. "Trust me, your majesty, to me everything new that I find out just makes you more perfect."

"Even the Evil Queen things, surely my curse ruined your life," she replied.

Emma smiled, "I like to believe that the curse was necessary."

"How so?" she laughed.

"Well if you hadn't stop time, then you would be like sixty years old," Emma chuckled.

"Meaning?" Regina asked.

"Well it would have been creepy if I fell in love with my sixty year step-grandmother."

Regina burst out laughing "when you put it like that it's still strange."

Emma smiled "at least we're about the same age."

"I suppose that makes it less strange."

"Also we share a son because of the curse, it's like you paved the way for us," Emma grinned.

"Is being able to make anything positive part of the Charming blood," Regina laughed.

"I think it's very useful skill."

"Well none of that changes the other things that I have done," Regina looked down.

Emma squeezed her hand, "I don't care about any of that, I fell in love with Regina not the Evil Queen that she was."

"What makes you so sure that the old me loved you," Regina sighed.

"To be fair I have no idea whether or not you liked me, but I'm pretty sure that you like me now," Emma teased.

Regina smiled "do I make it that obvious."

"Well you did agree to go out with me, I'm pretty confident that you're into me just as much as I am into you," they each smiled at each other only to interrupted by the arrival of the food.

"What do people usually do on dates?" Regina asked, after expressing just how much she enjoyed Italian.

"Well," Emma replied after swallowing some of her pizza "likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies, childhood." Regina looked at her sceptically and Emma laughed, "I'll go first then, I like...errrmmmm...playing darts."

Regina raised her eyebrow "I'm learning so much."

"Oh, ha ha, it's your turn."

"I loved horse riding," Regina offered.

Emma nodded, feeling guilt as she remembered what Henry had told her about Daniel.

"I've always wondered what it's like," Emma replied.

"It's indescribable," Regina sighed, and Emma made the decision right then what their next date would be.

Half an hour later they had each finished their meals, and Emma had paid for the service.

As they walked out into the cold night Emma noticed Regina shiver, and without hesitation she removed her red jacket and placed it around her shoulders.

"Won't you get cold?" Regina asked in surprise.

"Who cares?" Emma replied, Regina looked at with a dumbfounded expression so she put her arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "We can share heat."

Regina just chuckled and leant into the blonde "whatever you say Swan."


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter eighteen

Emma walked Regina up to the front door of the mansion, and finally let go of her shoulder.

"Did I do good?" she asked with a shy smile.

Regina let out a small laugh "you did very well dear."

Emma's smile broadened, before she stood there awkwardly.

Regina looked at her curiously "what usually happens now?"

"Well..." Emma replied, "it depends whether you like me or not."

"I thought you was pretty confident that I like you," she teased.

Emma blushed and nodded, "well if the date goes well there's usually a good night kiss."

Regina smirked, "why so nervous?"

"I'm not nervous," Emma said nervously.

Regina just let out a small chuckle, before placing her arms around the blondes neck "prove it" she whispered.

Emma's arms came up to her waist, and with a quick breath to steel her nerves, she leant forward and sealed their lips together. Instantly she felt fireworks, it was like nothing that she had ever felt before.

Pulling back she smiled at the brunette "how was that?"

Regina replied by letting out a small "wow" which only served to make Emma smile more.

They each let their arms fall down, "shall we your majesty," Emma asked as she opened the door.

* * *

"Ma, get up!" Henry shouted as he jumped on Emma's bed.

"What?" she asked groggily, trying to pull the sheet over her head but failing.

"Why are you in the guest room?" he asked.

"It was the first date, kid, I thought you wanted me to be romantic," she replied, as she gave up and sat up.

Henry nodded, "it was a test."

"Can I expect these tests often?"

"I need to make sure you don't screw it up."

"Good to know," she yawned, "I thought school was back today?"

"It is, grandma brought me here to get my uniform," he answered.

"Why didn't you take it with you?" he smiled and Emma shook her head, "you wanted to hear about the date didn't you?"

"Yep and so does grandma, so come on," he replied while jumping off the bed.

"What about Regina?"

"I checked, she's still asleep. Besides grandma is making breakfast."

Emma just nodded, stretching she followed the excitable boy down the stairs to meet the sound and smell of frying bacon.

Taking a seat at the counter she smiled at her mother "what's up Mary Margaret?"

"Who cares? Tell us everything," she replied instantly.

Emma just chuckled and shook her head "we just had dinner and talked."

Henry sighed dramatically "whatever happened to being romantic?"

"It was romantic, she told me about her childhood," Emma defended.

Mary Margaret's eyes widened, "she told you about Cora?"

"She didn't actually mention her parents, it was more about what she enjoyed doing," Emma frowned.

Mary Margaret nodded, "I wouldn't worry about that, I don't think it would make very good first date talk."

Emma nodded "I'm guessing it would take a few dates."

"She probably won't talk about it until you're married," she laughed.

Emma looked at her in shock and fear "you too?"

Her mother just continued laughing as she began scrambling some eggs, "did you do anything else romantic?" Henry asked.

"Like what?"

"Clichés," he answered.

Grabbing a done piece of bacon she nodded as she began chewing "I gave her my jacket," Henry's face lit up, "oh, and we had a good night kiss."

"Yes!" he jumped up, "I knew you could do it."

Mary Margaret just smirked "you kept saying that she was going to screw it up."

Emma looked at him indignantly, and he held up his hands in surrender, "I was worried."

"How bad do you think it could have gone?" Emma asked with a scowl.

"Well she does have magic now," he replied.

"She wasn't quite annoying enough for a fireball," Regina's voice came through the doorway, Mary Margaret looked at her in fear.

Regina just ignored her and took the bacon out of Emma's hand and ate it.

Emma turned around to face her "hey!"

Regina just raised an eyebrow at her, and Emma sighed dramatically and pouted.

Henry quickly grabbed two pieces of toast and his backpack, "we're going to late!" he lied, as he pulled his grandmother out of the kitchen, to which she didn't argue.

Emma just watched her mother and son leave with a small smile, before turning towards Regina, "hungry?"

Regina nodded.

Emma jumped up and emptied the contents of the frying pan onto the plates that Mary Margaret had already set out.

"I made you breakfast," she lied with a small smirk.

Regina looked at it critically "should I be worried about poisoning?"

Emma sighed "fine, Snow made it."

"Should I be worried about poisoning?" she asked again with a small smile.

"Stop being dramatic, why would she poison you?" Emma asked.

"Well she can't be happy that her daughter likes me," she laughed.

Emma frowned "she's the one that told me to go for it, in fact it was David that told me to go and find you in the first place."

"Seriously?" Regina asked, and Emma couldn't help but laugh at how surprised she actually looked.

"Seriously, now lets eat," she laughed, as she carried her and Regina's plates to the dining table.

* * *

Emma and Regina walked into the mayoral office and the queen looked around it "this is where I work?"

"I think it suits you," Emma laughed as she followed Regina toward the desk.

"So how will I know what to do?" she asked as she distrustfully looked at the laptop sat on the desk.

"I thought that you wanted to work?" Emma reminded her.

"I do, I just won't know what to do," she defended.

"Well I have no idea what you did, other than complain about the sheriff apartment," Emma countered.

"How often did I complain?"

"Well I have feeling that you just wanted an excuse to see me," Emma said cockily.

Regina raised her eyebrow, "has one date really raised your ego that much?"

"Well...yes," Emma laughed, "I mean it was a date with you."

"Exactly how long have you liked me?" she asked with a smirk.

"Well, I've always been attracted to you," she answered as she walked closer, sitting on the desk she looked up at the mayor.

All Regina could think was how adorable she looked, "you're very good at talking your way around things, aren't you?"

Emma put her hands on the brunettes waist and pulled her closer, "well now I have another way."

Regina just nodded, she was sure that her mind went completely devoid of comebacks as soon as the blonde touched her. But just as she was about to lean in for their second kiss, they were interrupted by a small squeak.

Emma released Regina, who turned to see a very embarrassed looking unfamiliar blonde woman.

"Who are you?" she asked in frustration.

"I-I'm sorry, I was your secretary, Emma asked me to come in and show you what you needed to do," she stuttered.

Regina turned to the blonde who offered her a small smile, _why is she always so considerate,_ she thought even though it just made her like her more.

Emma jumped up off the desk, "well Alex, I trust you to take care of madam mayor, I have a lot of work to catch up on," she smirked at the brunette.

Walking over to Regina she whispered, "I'll bring lunch at one," before placing a small kiss on her cheek and leaving a very confused looking secretary.

 **A/N I'm thinking that Emma and Regina would have to date for a while before Regina actually loves her, let me know what you think I could do it a different way if you guys prefer :)**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter nineteen

After some deliberation Emma had decided that it was weird for her to live with her girlfriend, even if they did have a son, and were now up to five dates.

Laying on her bed at the Charming apartment, she sighed as she continued her research on horse riding. When she had gone to the stables to try and book a session, she had discovered that she was still completely terrified of every horse that she saw. To be honest, she had been lying to herself when she had thought that she could participate in this date. When she was ten she had been sent to a foster family that had a horse, and she had seen their son being thrown off of its back. She wanted to give Regina the experience that would clearly make her the perfect girlfriend, but every time she tried to form the courage she gave up as soon as she thought about a horse. Closing her laptop she jumped of her bed, "Mary Margaret!" she shouted as she ran down the stairs.

"What?" she asked as she popped up from behind the kitchen counter.

"I'm afraid of horses," Emma replied as if it were an explanation.

"What?" her mother laughed.

Emma realised that she had forgotten important information and cycled back. "I want to take Regina on a horse riding date, but I'm too much of a coward," she huffed as she threw herself on the couch.

The brunette nodded, "I think coward may be a bit dramatic."

"She loves horses and I'm too scared to even tell her that Storybrooke has stables, I'm the worst girlfriend ever," she answered while putting a cushion over her face.

Mary Margaret just laughed and walked over to her daughter and pulled the cushion off her, "you're really being dramatic."

"Well then make me not afraid."

"How?" she laughed.

"I don't know, isn't that what mothers do," she asked exasperated.

Mary Margaret frowned. "well you could just face your fear, tell her that you're afraid."

"She'll laugh at me," she mumbled.

"Then that would make her the worst girlfriend," when the blonde just gave her a dirty look she sighed, "Henry could go with her, it doesn't have to be a date."

Emma shook "he his gets to spend all of his time with her."

"Are you jealous of your son?" Mary Margaret chuckled.

Emma thought about it for a second, "okay I am being a bit childish."

"A bit?" she laughed.

"But I still think it would be romantic."

"Well if you just face your fear, it can be romantic, I guarantee that she won't laugh at you."

Emma lay her head on her mother's shoulder.

Bringing her hand up to her daughter's blonde hair she softly stroked it, "how is it going anyway?"

"It's really good, it's just-" Emma stopped fearing that she would be judged.

"You can tell me sweetheart," she cooed.

"Well she still doesn't remember, I like how it is now, but she's still different from the woman that I fell in love with, and the worst thing is that I'm not even sure if Regina loved me before."

"Well maybe this needed to happen so that she could admit her feelings," she suggested.

Emma sighed, "I'm starting to wonder whether the curse needs to broken, and then I see the differences, and I just get really confused."

"Well what's different?"

"Well she's nice to me and Henry, but I'm starting to think that she would be able to actually be part of the town if she remembers. She would probably actually try and be nice to you and David."

"I doubt it," she laughed.

"I just think that she would be more willing to try...assuming she doesn't slap me when she remembers," she sighs.

"She'll remember everything that happened in the past few weeks as well, she'll just need to some time to realise that she loves you."

"I will blame you if you're wrong," the blonde pouted.

* * *

Henry walked into Regina's study to see her typing away on her laptop, he could almost pretend that everything was normal if she wasn't typing so slow.

"I think I broke it," she sighed.

And Henry just laughed "is that why you called me down?"

She looked at him desperately and he just shook his head and walked over to her, looking at the desktop he said "what's wrong?"

"I was doing the budget on that spread thing and now it's gone."

"You closed the spread sheet?" he asked.

She shrugged her shoulders and he opened the program and clicked on the autosave file.

Sighing in relief she smiled at her son "why does this have to be so confusing?"

"You can always ask for help," he smiled as he double checked that the file was actually saved.

As she began entering numbers again she looked up at her son "are you okay?"

He simply nodded and was about to leave.

"Henry wait, tell me what's wrong," she said.

Nodding he turned around, "I'm happy that I have you back in my life, I love you, it just your not...completely my mom," he mumbled.

Regina stood up and walked over to him, "I'm sorry."

Realising his folly, he quickly launched forward for a surprise hug, "I didn't mean to make you feel bad, I just want everything to be the way that it should be."

"Well what am I doing differently?"

"It's just little things that I never appreciated, you used to check my homework, you used to bake me cookies to cheer me up, and you used to buy me the newest comic book every week, and I keep realising why I was such as a terrible son."

Regina just returned his hug, still not completely comfortable with showing emotion.

Their moment was interrupted by each of their phones ringing with a text.

"Emma wants us to come to the stables," he frowned before Regina could get to her phone.

"Storybrooke has stables?" Regina asked, and Henry noticed slight excitement.

He nodded, "come on, we can walk there."

"Henry-" she began.

"It's okay mom, nothing I just said is your fault, it's my fault."

"Henry listen to me," she said, and Henry turned away from shutting down her laptop, "you need to stop blaming yourself for what happened, and you can't keep ignoring your father."

"I thought you hate him," Henry frowned.

Regina smirked, thinking about how she got to slap the man for coming onto her girlfriend again. "I find him insufferable, but you gave me a chance and you should give him one."

"But you deserve a chance, you was actually a parent to me," he argued.

"Emma told me that he never knew, he didn't have the chance so it is completely unfair to blame him. I think that with some direction he could make a passable father."

Henry nodded, "I'll take you to the stables and go and talk to him if you want."

"That's very mature ," she smiled, and Henry couldn't help but see a glimpse of his real mother.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter twenty

Regina walked towards the stables after sending Henry away to go and meet his father. The first thing that she noticed was Emma leaning nervously against a wall, clearly biting her nails.

"I thought that you didn't become so nervous during our dates anymore," Regina laughed as approached the blonde.

Emma looked up and gave her a small pained smile, "I don't, its just this date."

"Why?" Regina laughed.

Emma looked towards the horses and considered whether this would be worth it, before another thought occurred to her.

"Where's the kid?"

"I sent him to spend time with his father," Regina replied nonchalantly.

Emma tilted her head, "why?"

"Because we can't expect him to cut one of his parents out, I believe that didn't go so well for him last time," she answered.

Emma began to genuinely smile, it was at moments like this that she thought Regina had got her memories back and didn't tell anyone. But at the same time she was pretty sure that her Regina would never have admitted why she sent Henry to his father, she was beginning to think that she loved the two different parts of Regina. Emma just wished with all of her heart that when she gets her memory back she can be both.

"I didn't see that coming," she laughed.

"Well it does seem unfair that Mr Cassidy has to lose any chance with you and with his son," she laughed.

Emma grinned and nodded before standing awkwardly for a few moments.

"Emma," Regina laughed, and the blonde looked up at her, "why am I here?"

"To ride horses," Emma choked out.

"So why are we just standing here?"

Emma bit her lip, "I have a confession to make, and you have to promise that you won't laugh at me." Regina nodded and Emma continued, "well ever since our first date I wanted to bring you here, you just looked so happy when you talked about horses. But I've been afraid of them since I was young, so it took me a while to actually build the courage to even book us a session. Well anyway, Mary Margaret basically forced me to do it today, and to tell you that I am terrified, and I thought that it wouldn't be very romantic with me being so scared, so that's why I invited Henry," she explained in one breath.

Regina raised her eyebrow as she processed everything that Emma had just admitted, "you're afraid of horses?"

Emma sighed and leant back against the stable wall, before nodding sadly.

"I thought you said that you've never ridden one?"

"I haven't, but I saw someone being thrown off one, he's like completely paralysed now and it just freaked me out," she mumbled in embarrassment.

"Was this person trained?"

Emma thought about it before shaking her head, "actually he was told not to ride the horse," she realised.

Regina smiled, "then that's why he was thrown of, I on the other hand have had many years of training. I can guarantee that under my tutelage you will remain perfectly safe."

Emma felt relief flood through her as she realised that Regina hadn't laughed at her, and even seemed to understand her, she nodded and led the way towards the horses.

* * *

"Hey Neal," Henry said awkwardly, as he walked towards the bench near the docks.

Neal looked at his son sadly and offered him a small smile, "I've been such a jerk" he sighed.

"Yeah, you have," Henry replied, choosing to remain standing a short distance away.

"I was just getting over Tamara, I should have seen it from the beginning. I owe your mom...moms an apology."

"Yeah you do."

"Look, kid, I know that I don't have the best track record, but I promise you that I'll do my best to be your dad," he replied looking up at him desperately.

Henry considered everything that had happened to Neal, after all he did grow up with a man that chose magic over his own son. He supposed that by comparison he had been through just as many traumatic experiences as Regina had, so by that logic he deserved another chance, even if he hadn't proved himself as a parent yet.

He nodded, "you'll have to talk to my moms about it, maybe the three of you can work a custody agreement or something."

Neal's face lit up at the suggestion, and it only got lighter as his son finally sat next to him, "are you sure that you would be okay with that?"

"I'm not sure that I'm the one you have to worry about, my mom isn't going to be happy when she gets her memory back," he chuckled.

"She seems pretty happy now," he frowned, thinking about seeing the queen holding hands with Emma down Main Street.

"Yeah," Henry sighed, "but I think that she could be happier."

* * *

After finally managing to coax Emma onto a horse and sitting behind her, the two spent an hour and a half riding around the grounds surroundings the stables.

Regina smiled as she felt the tension eventually fall away from the blonde, and urged the horse to go faster, "jerk," Emma shouted as she tensed in her arms again, only to be met by Regina's laugh.

Slowing the horse to a trot before the stable door Regina asked, "it wasn't that bad was it?"

Emma turned so that they were face to face, "I think that I could get used to it."

Regina smiled, and was about to lean in for a kiss, only to be interrupted by the grumbling of Emma's stomach and she just let out a laugh as she looked critically at her girlfriend.

Emma pouted, "I guess I forgot to eat."

"Were you that worried?"

"I was more terrified than worried, now I'm just hungry."

"Does this mean that you forgot to bring food," she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Emma nodded and Regina just shook her head.

Regina jumped off and helped the blonde down.

Emma suggested, "I'll go and get some food and you stay and do some actual horse riding."

Regina smiled and tilted her head.

"I could tell that you wanted to go faster," she chuckled, before placing a quick kiss on her cheek and making her way to her car.

* * *

About half an hour later Emma emerged from her car holding a bag of Granny's takeout.

Smiling she walked towards the stables only to frown when she saw that Regina wasn't there.

"Hey, Paul, is Regina still riding?" she asked.

The stable hand looked up the sheriff, "yeah, I think that she went off the path."

Emma felt worry clench her stomach as she thought about what could have happened, only to remember that Regina was a master rider.

She sat on a stool for ten minutes, biting her nails, only to finally hear the sound of galloping from outside, "finally" she mumbled, before making her way outside.

"Paul!" she shouted, to which he ran out to see the horse galloping fiercely towards the stable with no one on his back. The man quickly ran forward and placed a calming hand on the horse's mane.

Emma quickly pulled out her phone, "Ruby, come to the stables now," she shouted down the phone, before hanging up without further explanation.

"What the hell Regina?" she mumbled, as tears began to spring to the corners of her eyes.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter twenty-one

"Emma calm down," Ruby shouted as she ran over to the pacing blonde.

"Regina was out riding and her horse came back without her."

Ruby nodded, "do you have anything that smells like her?"

Emma thought about it for a second and hung her head with a sigh.

Ruby looked at her sadly before a thought occurred to her, walking up to the blonde she sniffed her.

"What the hell?" she asked in shock.

"You smell like her," she smirked.

"Just find her," she said grumpily.

Ruby nodded and began to sniff the air, with Emma following close behind her.

Ruby began to run towards a strong scent and Emma broke into a run to keep up with wolf.

Pointing Ruby breathed "she's up ahead."

Emma ran ahead and took a sharp intake of breath as she saw her girlfriend lying in a heap on the forest floor. Emma ran up and slid onto her knees next to the unconscious woman.

"Regina," she said as she placed a hand on her arm, noticing that the other one was bent at a strange angle and there was blood running down the side of her face from a gash on her forehead.

"Emma?" Ruby asked.

"Call an ambulance," Emma choked out.

Ruby pulled out her phone, "there's no reception," she frowned.

"Then go somewhere where there is!" Emma snapped.

Ruby nodded and ran as quickly as she could towards the stables.

"I knew there was a reason to never trust horses," Emma cried as she stroked Regina's hair, "you promised that you were a master."

Pulling her head into her lap, Emma sat and waited. As she watched Regina's chest raise and fall, thoughts of living without her began to invade her mind. She thought about having to try and raise Henry alone, she was pretty sure that he would end up as screwed up as she was. She thought about not being allowed to propose to her, though this thought usually terrified her, but now the thought of not getting the opportunity utterly destroyed her.

"Please, baby wake up," she said softly, "I love you and you can't leave me."

In that moment she realised that she had never actually told her that she loved her, she had always just allowed Henry to do it for the both of them.

"I love you so much, and I should have said it every time I saw you, and I will as soon as you wake up," leaning down she placed a soft kiss on her lips and whispered "please give me the chance to prove it."

"They're up this way," Ruby called followed by two paramedics.

With this interruption, Emma didn't notice the burst of energy that flowed out from their touching lips.

The paramedics ran towards the two women, and nicely asked Emma to step away, before she let go she whispered, "please be okay."

* * *

Emma paced the waiting room with Mary Margaret, David, Neal and Henry watching her from their seats.

"Emma she'll be fine," Mary Margaret tried again.

"The last person I know who fell off a horse wasn't okay," she countered and continued pacing.

Henry stood and grabbed her arm, "please sit down, you're making me nervous."

Emma looked down at her son, and saw that he was just as worried as she was, nodding she sat in Henry's seat who then proceeded to lean against the wall.

Whale walked into the waiting room ten minutes later and smiled, "she'll be fine, just a broken arm, fortunately she showing no signs of concussion, but I would like to keep her in for twenty-four hours for observation."

Everyone in the room let out a collective sigh of relief, "can we see her?" Henry asked.

Whale nodded "let me know if you have any questions," he added before he walked away.

Mary Margaret stood with a smile, "you two go in and let us know when she's awake," she said to her daughter and grandson.

Emma nodded and quickly made her way towards the room, with Henry close on her heels.

Upon entering the room she couldn't help but think that this happened way too often for her liking, though everything had changed since the last time that this had happened.

Each took a seat next to the brunette woman who appeared to be sleeping peacefully.

"How do you think she fell off?" Emma asked as she took her hand.

Henry thought about it, "gramps said that there's loads of reasons, she could have rode into a tree branch, or the horse could have gotten spooked."

Emma frowned, "why would anybody want to ride a horse?"

Henry just shook his head, "you know this probably isn't going to stop her from riding again, and there's no way she's not going to."

"Why would she do that?" Emma sighed.

"Have you never heard of getting back up on the horse sheriff?" Regina asked.

Emma looked up at her and smiled, but Henry just looked in shock at his mother.

"So what did happen?"

"Just didn't really have a connection with that horse," she shrugged, "what's wrong with Henry?"

"You remember," he replied.

Emma furrowed he brow as she looked between her son and his other mother, "what?" she asked.

"She called you sheriff, and she said it differently, like she did when she was mocking you," he answered.

"She's always mocked me," Emma answered still looking at Regina who was still smirking.

"Well it's good to know that at least one of you is observant," she quipped.

"How?" Emma and Henry sputtered together.

"I vaguely remember Miss Swan assuring me that she loved me, and then she kissed me, I would guess it was that," she pondered.

"You were awake?"

"I was somewhere in between, I suppose, I thought you would be happy that I remember," she replied.

"I-I am," Emma said, "I just thought you would be pissed that I'm your girlfriend when you remember," she blushed.

Regina just laughed, "you realise that I can remember the last few weeks."

Emma nodded "aren't you even a little freaked out?"

Regina blushed and Emma looked at her with a smirk, "what?" she asked.

Regina sighed, and held up her good hand, she whispered something and a pile of comic books appeared, "I believe I owe you these," she said to Henry.

A huge smile adorned the boy's face as he looked at what his mother offered him, "I'll give you some time alone," he chuckled as he took the comic books with a small hug he whispered, "I'm glad you're okay mom."

With that he left to inform the others that she was awake.

"So what is it?" Emma asked, squeezing her hand.

"This is something that I would probably never have admitted, but I have always had a...attraction towards you," she admitted.

"You actually liked me before," Emma asked with a shell shocked look.

"I thought it were obvious."

"Apparently Henry figured it out and I think my parents knew," she laughed.

Regina cringed, "does this mean I actually have to be nice to your mother?"

"I think it means that you should at least try," Emma laughed, "and if David does that protective father thing you have to at least pretend to be scared, just let him have it."

Regina nodded, "I think that I can deal with that," Emma smiled, "on one condition."

Emma raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"You have to move back into the mansion," she replied.

Emma nodded "I think I can deal with that."

* * *

-Three years later-

"Emma!" Regina called up the stairs.

"What?" the blonde called as she appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Why aren't you ready?" she asked indignantly.

"I've got time," she said casually.

"Your parents and Neal will be here in five minutes," she pointed out angrily.

"Why can't I have Christmas dinner in my PJ's," she pouted.

"We went through this last year," she said with an exasperated sigh.

"Yes, but I was your girlfriend last year, how can you say no to your adorable wife," she crossed her arms.

Regina just laughed and pointed towards their room, "well as adorable as you are I find it quite easy to say no."

Henry appeared next to his mother, "I'm ready," he grumbled as he pulled at the Christmas jumper his grandmother had given him.

"You don't have to wear that," Regina laughed.

"Then why are you wearing yours?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Looking down at the green and red monstrosity she sighed, "I made a deal with your mother a few years ago."

The door bell rang, "get ready now," she said and Emma just walked off to do as she was told.

"Yet another family dinner," she sighed as she walked towards the door.

Henry walked behind her, "you managed to get through Thanksgiving."

"Which wasn't that long ago," she sighed.

Henry just laughed and opened the door to reveal his grandparents, each smiling broadly and Regina tried not to roll her eyes at them.

Snow hugged Henry, and then proceeded give her daughter in law a big hug.

Regina half heartedly returned the hug and she eventually let go. Once she was released she turned in search of something that she desperately needed.

Emma appeared in front of her holding a glass of apple cider, "looking for this?" she asked with a smirk.

Inspecting her wife she smiled seeing that she actually had gotten dressed, "thank you dear."

Looking up she noticed a piece of mistletoe floating above them.

"Seriously?" she laughed.

"You said I should take every opportunity to practice my magic," she laughed.

Shaking her head she just smiled as she leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

" l love you, but I don't think I'll get through another dinner with the idiots."

Emma just chuckled, "I love you too."

* * *

 **A/N Thank you for all the support with this story, hope you enjoyed this ending :)**


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